Lorrie knits and sews

Welcome home!

2012-01-27T22:05:00.001-05:00

I walked in the house after work on Wednesday and was greeted by the smell of heated paint. DD decided to tackle the kitchen cupboard. She explains her reasoning.here. (Jan. 26 post).

Five shelves, about 5 feet long were emptied and the contents piled in the kitchen and dining room. I started to wonder how I was going to eat dinner.It will all be good when she finishes, but in the meantime, I'm living in confusion again.

Update: Friday Night
The shelves are full of dishes again, for now.

In the course of the domestic archeology that has been ongoing, some more photo albums were unearthed. One of them contained one of my favorite pictures from the past, taken in 1976 at boy scout camp. My husband and son! It was taken by a professional photographer, who shot at scout camp for fun. This appeared on our church bulletin at that time. (One of the priests was also a photographer.)

Arthroscopic surgery was performed on the Tree Bark Sweater, and the sleeve was removed. It looks much like this, except more knitting has occurred. I had a number of missteps in starting the second sleeve. I started it at work and when I got home a pulled it out of the bag, it came off the needlesin the middle and unraveled the cast on row. I failed at starting the k2, p2 ribbing, doing a p4 in the middle.I finally got the ribbing going correctly and messed up the increase row before starting the cable pattern. I think I have it how and am ready to start cables again. I've lost another cable needle. Seems it's time to buy some more.

I was feeling so good

2012-01-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

I had finished one sleeve of my Tree Bark sweater. I took it to Knitting at the library and sewed it to the body. I got the sleeve seamed, but not the body last night. This morning, I was starting the other sleeve, when I noticed the needles in the sweater "kit" were smaller than what I had just finished using.

The bad news is that I knit the sleeve on #8 needles instead of #7, and it shows.

The good news is that it is at least 2" too long, so I will be knitting 2 shorter sleeves.

Yesterday was the day of the third trip to Home Depot for the closet. It is now set up with the pieces I know I want. I plan to put more module(s) under the long rod, but don't yet know what I want. The empty rod will hold short sleeved tops, but repair work needs to be done to the wall, and I'm not wearing short sleeves right now. Wool sweaters is more like it. The short sleeves can stay where they are until repairs are done.

My black socks have a heel on the second sock. I started a birthday hat for DGS Michael in Bernat Camouflage yarn.

Other than that, business as usual. Today I work

Ah, Winter in NE Ohio

2012-01-22T17:35:00.001-05:00

The runners in the family have had some chances to run outdoors on days when the snow is cleared or melted. There has been a demand for the headbands. I've now knit 5 of them, using up a number of small balls of yarn.

Others in the family have gotten scarves. When I planned to knit 12 accessories for 2012, I didn't plan to knit hem all in January. I've now done 7 and still have a hat for a grandson to make in the next week or so.

I've started writing patterns again, adding two sock patterns to Ravelry and one to Patternfish. My Tree Bark sweater is growng a sleeve. Two different socks are being knit.

Work is proceeding on my bedroom closet. To the left is stage one. There is a small closet to the left of the photo, which will have all the long items like dresses and slacks. I used to have a rod where the rack is now. but always had trouble with the sliding doors. As you can see it is gone completely.

We are building a modular closet. We had brackets for the shelves/racks on the back wall. It seems there is broken lath just where we needed stability. We'll hang those shelves from vertical strips like on the left. Of course it has already taken 2 trips to Home Depot and will take at least one more.

I've upgraded my winter wardrobe. This morning I bought a new jacket on line from Lands End.to replace the one that is too big and is starting to have zipper issues. I also replaced my boots for dog walking. The new ones are sooooo comfy and say that they will keep me warm to -25 degrees. I won't be testing that. The leather boots may stay around for a while. I do hate to throw things out, but if I don't wear them again this winter, they are leaving the house!!!

My family social life continues. Last Sunday there was a large breakfast gathering. Yesterday my son joined me for an orchestra concert. The Cleveland Orchestra played Brahms Piano concerto No. 2 with Yefim Bronfman soloist, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6. Tonight there is birthday cake and ice cream for my DIL Prg.

A Good Start to the New Year

2012-01-08T22:14:00.000-05:00

Although I got a cold for Christmas, I'm feeling better now. My youngest daughter Dr. J and her husband were in town after Christmas, and spent New Year's Eve with me. We watched Big Bang Theory all night, drank a little wine, and went to bed. We had gone to the Mongolian Barbeque for dinner with runner girl and her guy. New Year's Day I went to my son's house for dinner. I didn't go back to work until Wednesday.

A bit of knitting happened. I knit a pair of mitts for Dr. J's husband. I made them ribbed, because he didn't think he would wear them, That way Dr. J could use them.

She asked for a cup cozy. I made two of them.

I also knit a pair of felted clogs from the ever popular Fiber Trends pattern. I need to knit more of these in the coming year. I now have the children size pattern, so some of those will be knit as well.

Probably the best gift was one that came late. It was a joint effort and waited for the finishing touch, the stained glass made by Dr. J. It's a box for all the memory things from my husband. I have the sympathy cards, the guest book from the funeral, and a number of other things, like a lock of his hair.

They included one of our favorite photos of him. Also in this picture is a train whistle and a rose from the funeral.

I love the train on the top. It's stylized and really represents his love of steam railroads.

Now that all the gifts are done and delivered, the last gifts went to Florida with Dr. J, I'm on to other things.One of my goals this year is to read 12 books that I already own. I have no particular plan, but I'm keeping a list. I started with The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann. In it I found a headband pattern that seemed meant for little bits of bulky yarn. Another goal is to knit 12 different patterns from ones I own on January 1, 2012. This qualifies. The second headband was an odd ball that I got as a designer perk.

I also finished a pair of socks. I have the pattern written, but the photo isn't in yet. I'll go over the copy and publish it on Ravelry. It's the first pattern in quite a while. I haven't quit designing, just writing up the designs.

Knitting update

2011-12-27T07:32:00.000-05:00

Christmas gifts can now be shown. There was a pair of leg warmers. I had told DD that they were "a nose warmer for an elephant". She had to ask!!

There were dishcloths/facecloths.

And more dishcloths/facecloths.

And a new hat for running in cold weather, made at the last minute.

I also have finished those crazy socks, but they won't be gifted until some time in January.

Empty

2011-12-26T18:13:00.000-05:00

Empty is what I was feeling on Christmas Eve. I had plenty to do. I went to a %:00 church service where grand children played Christmas carols as part of the service. I went to my son's house for a gathering of his wife's family. I came home and walked the dog. She was very enthusiastic and made me smile. I ended the day/started the new day by going to Midnight Mass at our church, something I haven't done for years. At 2:00 I fell into bed. I missed having a certain special someone to share it with. Together we wouldn't have done so much, but we had each other. I relish the new freedom, but it's lonely sometimes.

Christmas morning I opened the stocking Santa left me. I hadn't hung stockings because my living room was full of boxes of books that belonged in my bedroom. This was the view earlier in the week while the ceiling was being textured and painted.

Saturday night while I was out, the family moving crew came and dug out the living room and moved many boxes upstairs to the room the contents belonged in. My bedroom is finished for now, and all furniture is in place. The blinds are back on the windows. The TV is back on the wall. The bed is against the wall where it belongs. I've started emptying boxes and putting books away. Many books will be donated to our library book sale.There is much work still to be done, but the remodeling part is finished.

Later in the day I went to daughter Jen's house for Christmas dinner and associated festivities with her husband's relatives. Today all my available children gather at son John's house for our family Christmas. Holding the family get together on a separate day lets everyone see each other. It's also pajama day at that house, so there will be some of those in evidence.

It was a fairly subdued gathering. with fewer gifts than some years. Part of that was due to fewer available people. I got a number of odd food things like carrot and spinach chips, and chocolate covered pretzels. All this can be saved and eaten over time. Even the dog got a gift of a toy, which was made with the help of the grandkids, It is a tennis ball with poly fleece handles for tugging and chewing on. She seems to like it.

A Construction Zone

2011-12-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

That's my bedroom at the moment. Usually, my DD Jan puts everything back together at the end of each work day. Today started a little late and continued until completion, after dinner. She was priming walls and ceilings. The walls in the closet area had been wall papered and soaked up the primer.Everything took longer than she had figured on.

I was having a blah day. I suggested grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, with bacon and tomato. I'd pick up the tomato on my way home from the gym. I got off to a slow start, slow getting out of bed, slow getting breakfast made. And so it went. I couldn't decide what I wanted for breakfast, so i kept knitting on the sock. The heel got finished, which was good. Finally I went off to the gym, my usual Tuesday morning activity.

Most days, I have meals planned ahead. I know today what I'm eating tomorrow. Today I finally decided to make a pancake. With a just add water mix, I can get the batter quantity down so there are no leftovers. Dinner was Tuna Helper, and we ate enough so that what is left will be part of tomorrows lunch. We'll have Scotch Broth soup from Kristin Nicholas's recipe. It comes out of the freezer tonight.

My Holiday break from work begins at 5:00 tomorrow. There is a Mass being said for my husband at 5:30 pm. We'll both go, come home to a quick dinner, and she'll be off to spend the night with a friend.

There are a couple of small gifts still to be knit, and a pair of felted slippers, which may not be delivered until February. If I get them done quickly, I'll mail the gifts to that family, but they'll be here in February.

'Tis the Season

2011-12-18T16:43:00.013-05:00

I've finished all the gifts for next weekend. Out of town people are coming in later. I still need to wrap gifts and mail a package to Illinois. They'll open it as soon as it comes, so I don't send it too early.

Festivities started today with grandchildren in a children's service at their church. Dad is a tuba player, usually playing unseen in the balcony behind us. He has a snowflake on the tuba bell that lights up (battery maybe?)

Then the children came in and sang carols.

Then came the explanation of the history and meaning of Christmas. My favorite letters were:

M is for Manger, and

A is for Angels. At the end, the letters spelled out CHRISTMAS.

I've knit some dishcloths for a gift.

And more dishcloths for another gift. Each one is a different stitch pattern, so they're really like large swatches. I think I'll do some more of them for future gifts.

I do have socks on the needles. The entrelac socks are proceeding apace. They'll be a January birthday gift. The blue socks are a little bigger, but they mostly sit unknit. Their turn will come.

We have snow on the ground, so it looks like it will be a white Christmas. I wish everyone Happy Holidays.

Family Cookie Fest

2011-12-12T09:24:00.003-05:00

I forgot to say that I also had a birthday party, thrown by my knitting friends at our regular Thursday night get together. They bought cupcakes and candles and sang Happy Birthday to me. A very nice surprise!

Saturday night my neighbor held a Christmas party for the neighborhood. It was scheduled for 4-6 pm, so I left work a little early to give me more time at the party. I usually work until 5:00. I met a few new people. One was the fiancee of a woman down the street. I just hadn't met him yet. The other was a newcomer to the street. She's single, retired, and new to the area. She's looking for women to do things with when she gets back from Florida. Her children now live here, so she moved from Atlanta. We exchanged phone numbers, I'll hear from her when she comes back.

Sunday afternoon was our family cookie baking party. It was at my daughter Jen's house. It's a good thing that her house absorbs people well. It was pretty full! She invited extended family and friends. There were about 12 children under the age of 10. They were too busy to cookie bake, or the kitchen was too full of adults! Extended family included my sister with her husband and adult daughter, my husband's cousin with three of his daughters and a granddaughter. Jen's sister-in-law with 3 daughters and assorted friends, my son with wife and two children, my daughter Jan and her SO.

Supplies were stacked on the counter one foot high. The table was covered. There was a spare table in the living room for processing things like no-bake cookies, which need to be formed before they cool and harden. The area to the right is the stove, where many of the no-bake cookies were put together. The oven and microwave out out of the picture to the right.

She had loads of food to eat. As college teachers with many grad students, they know how to feed a crowd and buy much of what they need from the local grocery store catered sandwiches section.

Cookies are shared with all present and I came home with some frozen lasagna and some chili.I still have to make a pot of chili for Jan's lunch tomorrow, so I will have lots in the freezer when I'm done.

Knitting progresses. I'm making dishcloths for gifts and am working on the third one. The entrelac sock has a heel and the foot is growing. The blue sock is a little bigger. My sister brought her knitting because she had a problem with her sock. I helped her turn the heel. The heel flap was already knit. Her daughter wants to knit a hat like one she owns. I'll send her info about Ravelry and Knitty. She lives a couple of hours from me, so in person help is hard to do. Grandchild knitting will happen on a quieter day. DGD Erin stopped while getting dressed one day to inspect a sweater I had knit her and try to figure out how I had done the stitches. I think we will have a real knitter in a few years.

A very nice birthday

2011-12-10T22:35:00.001-05:00

Wednesday was my birthday, the first that I have celebrated alone in my life. By alone, I mean no mother or husband to orchestrate a celebration. DH always remembered, but never did a big celebration, so quiet was to be expected. Actually, this one was more festive than many. I worked all day, then was taken out for dinner. Some of my children decided that I needed to experience Ethiopian cooking. DH was a meat and potatoes guy, but I'm more adventurous. We had a great meal, a meat and veggie sampler, eaten with what someone called rubber bread, tasty rubber bread. I got some phone calls and even had a gift to open. One of my Florida daughters sent me a gorilla tripod for my camera.

I have finished the socks for DGS and will deliver them tomorrow. It is family cookie day and his parents will be there, even if he has to work. The family gets together and does lots of cookies and them divides up the results. The sock pattern is from an old Stahl Socka book. It's fairly simple, but the dark yarn and user brain cramps made for some mistakes and ripping. All is well now!

I have started two more pairs of socks. The blue ones are for me. They fulfill a requirement for the Socktopia group on Ravelry and are my own design. I'll write up the pattern soon. I've called them Techtonic because they look like an earthquake has hit them.

The other pair is for Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry and will be a gift. They fulfill both the entrelac technique category and the left over yarn category. I'm using six different yarns left over from other socks.

I have decided to knit dishcloths for Christmas presents and have finished two of them. No pictures yet.

We have had snow, but today, we actually have a little left on the ground at the end of the day. You almost can see it on the grass. The wool socks, hat, and mittens come in handy. I made new mittens last year and really love them. They replaced a worn out pair and coordinate with my hat and scarf.

Yes, There Has Been Knitting Recently

2011-12-04T21:40:00.001-05:00

A few posts ago, I showed the start of a pair of socks. they will be a Christmas present for DD#1. The yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, a bamboo/cotton/elastic blend. The pattern is called Hypnosis by Janel Laidman from her Eclectic Sole book. I made them longer than she made hers. I do like a longer leg and ether was plenty of yarn.

I'm almost finished with a birthday pair of socks for a grandson. The pattern is from an old Socka book. I was looking for something simple. The dark yarn offers enough challenges. It's Knit Picks Stroll, and I don't like the yarn. It's very splitty. I've used their yarn before, but the last couple of times have not been fun.I won't be buying it again.

I finished the front of my tree bark sweater and started the collar. It's in time out right now, while I finish the sleeves. A large collar is called for, and will be smaller if I run short on yarn. I should be all right, but I inherited this batch from my other, who died in 1988. She probably got it on sale as discontinued. It's a nice sport weight wool called Pomfret from Brunswick.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I had a field trip with my daughter and her kids to our Natural History Museum. They showed me how woefully inadequate is my dinosaur knowledge. This is the newest exhibit, an Allosaurus from the Jurassic period. We looked at the bones to see which ones were real, and which were replacements for missing bones. To the right of this one is a Haplocanthosaurus, which is twice as tall.

The kids showed off their knowledge of astronomy at the planetarium show. We were lucky to be there when they feed the wild animals they have rescued, so we learned about the bobcats, foxes and otters. As museum members, they had seen the animals, but had missed the feeding and talks about different behaviors.We had to see the beetle display and find the anomaly. One of these things is not like the others.

The trip ended with climbing on the Stegasaurus, a real favorite activity.

A Day to Give Thanks

2011-11-24T08:44:00.001-05:00

With two deaths in the family this fall, it's been hard emotionally. Today is a day to look at the good in my life.

For over 50 years, I had a good partner in my life, (almost 50 of them we were married.).
My wonderfully supportive and loving children, who have gathered around for family support.
My sister Carol, who had a rough start at married life, but she and her two children found a good man and a good life.
My sister Beth who found her man on a blind date and they're still together.
Family gatherings like Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's house.
My house is paid for and remodeling continues, with most of the work being done by family members.
My friends, mostly knitting ones.
My weight loss. I started after Easter, and am reaching the end. I've dreamed of this for years, and finally found something that works for the rest of my life.
Not to forget my dog. I am never alone in my house.
My yarn stash. I can knit for a long time without spending money on yarn. Buying yarn is optional.
A freezer full of good food that I have cooked over time. Cooking is optional, although I've done a lot of it recently.
My new iPhone acquired when my last phone went swimming and drowned. I'm still learning about all that it can do.

What can I say?

2011-11-22T08:31:00.000-05:00

Another death in the family

Last month it was my husband: 9/8/1941-10/13/2011. He had been among the walking wounded for years. Then he caught pneumonia and was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was too much.

At the same time, my sister was also fighting cancer. She went in the hospital for her final treatment, and got pneumonia. Her body struggled with it from the end of September and finally lost the battle.

My sister Carol: 3/31/1945-11/18/2011.

We lived at opposite sides of the country, and weren't as close as we would have liked to be.

Thankfully, there are no more known illnesses in the family. I have my children, their spouses, and my one remaining sister to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I really don't know what to say!
word seem so inadequate.

Random Thoughts

2011-11-10T14:05:00.001-05:00

Both soups were yummy, and I have more Scotch Broth in the freezer. Today, DD and I had tuna fish salad sandwiches. My next cooking project will be meatloaf patties. Cook as needed!I think my solution to cooking for one, is don't. Just cook as usual and package for one. Some things can be cooked to a certain point, put aside, and finished when ready to eat.

I'm getting used to my new computer room, across the hall from my bedroom. It was handy when I woke up the other night and couldn't get back to sleep. Things like the printer don't work like they used to, but they work. The family computer gurus will be in again soon, to do more work like replacing cables with new ones.

I'm getting used to my new iPhone. Did I say that my last phone drowned? There have been some problems with installing e-mail and with my contact list, but they seem to be straightened out now. It helps to have family with iPhone knowledge. I find it interesting that my Bluetooth now has customized ring tomes, so I know who is calling. That is a new to me feature.

I lost my weight/food tracking program when I lost my phone, so went with My Fitness Pal on the recommendation of my daughters. The phone version has a bar code reader, which may come in handy. Since Easter, I have been losing weight by eating smaller portions and exercising more. Tracking shows me progress and helps with nutrition.

Knitting progress - I have a few photos.

The tree bark sweater progresses. I hope I have enough yarn. If not, I'll knit it again on larger needles. I might be able to make it smaller too.

I have a secret project I call a nose warmer for an elephant. It is my purse knitting, being a stockinette tube, just knit round and round.

These socks are from Crystal Yarn Palace Panda Cotton. The pattern is called Hypnosis by Janel Laidman.

I also have a pair of men's socks in Burgundy, but not much progress yet.

Cooking for One

2011-11-06T19:37:00.002-05:00

and one, and one. This afternoon was spent in the kitchen. DD Jan missed out on a delicious soup for two that took longer to cook than I had planned for. I hadn't read the part where it said to cook for one hour before adding the last ingredients. It's a vegetable and pasta soup. The trouble with meals for two is that instead of leftover meal, you have left over ingredients. I have made the soup again, through the cook for one hour part. She'll be here on Tuesday, and I will heat it up and add the last pieces.

I also made a big pot of Scotch Broth Soup, with lamb, veggies, and barley. The taste reminds me of Campbell's Scotch Broth, which I hear is discontinued. It made enough for 8 meals, 6 of which will go in the freezer. DD Jan was talking about how I'm eating a lot of lamb. "Did Dad not like lamb?" He liked it, but it seems to be more of a winter food, in addition to being more expensive than some other meats. I recently ordered lamb curry in an Indian restaurant and also bought and ate some lamb chops, which prompted the question.

Before the gym, this morning, I went to my son's house for breakfast. We were in the habit of going out for breakfast once a month, but when he took a look at his current finances, he suggested eating at home. He and his wife made pancakes, bacon, and a scrambled egg casserole. Last month they came to our house, and his Dad enjoyed it thoroughly. It made more sense for me to do the traveling this time. No need to try to keep things warm in transit.

I'll be reading/listening to King Lear in the near future. DGD Luci will be studying it in school this year. It is one of those things I know a lot about, but don't think I every read it and know I never saw it. I remember that the library has a section of audio books of Shakespeare plays. I think the audio will be closer to a staged version. I'll look for a video also. This is a case where the printed page has limitations. I may also read the play from the book I inherited from my mother.

This morning, Luci was deep into a copy of Les Miserables that I gave her last week for her birthday.. It seems she loves old books. The first thing she did with my gift was to open it up and smell it. She loves the smell of books. The one I gave her, I had bought as a teenager and just read recently.

Moving On

2011-11-05T08:25:00.002-04:00

I feel like a lump in the middle of a whirlwind. So much has happened and so much is happening. I'm somewhat numb, while things whirl around me.

This last week was a little hectic. Saturday I worked and had nothing scheduled in the evening except peace and quiet. Sunday morning I had breakfast with our son and his wife's family at the Gunny Hall. Then I went to the gym and came home and baked cornbread for a neighborhood chili cook off. Monday was work and DSon came over to look at wine making supplies. His father in law has a friend who is interested. Also on Mondya morning, my cell phone jumped out of my pocket into the toilet. It drowned. Phone calls to DD Julie, whose plan I am now on resulted, ultimately in a new phone. Tuesday was gym time again, then off to the phone store to get a new iPhone, a big upgrade from what I had! Then I had to get DH's car title changed to my name so I could give it to DGS Craig. He needs to get the title in his name and then I will take the car off my insurance. He's been driving it for about 3 weeks now, since before DH died. Wednesday was a calm day, just work. Thursday was gym and then to the bank to add a signature to my business account now that I had all the paperwork. We tried to add e-mail to my new phone, and messed up my e-mail account. That took a while to straighten out. It's still not on my phone, we plan to try gmail and forward all other mail to that, knowing that gmail will work on the phone. Thursday night, a huge amount of wine making supplies left the house. The wine bottles are on the front porch and will be recycled. The large jugs were sold. I went to the knitting group at my LYS, DSon handled the wine stuff. Whew!

DD Jan is still working on patching walls and painting, causing movement of things that belong in the various rooms. She finished one small, but important room. The furniture from that room was blocking movement in the hall, so other rooms couldn't be put together. My knitting books are slowly being put back on shelves. There are new shelves for the magazines. I've had to move DH's clothes out of his closet in order to patch and paint it. They have left the house and may fit some of the men in the family. Mostly they will be donated to charity.

Today the computers are to be moved from the basement where the family room used to be. They will go in an upstairs bedroom. Eventually, one computer will be eliminated since there is only one of me.

DD Julie is the family finance expert, and has been making phone calls to various people on my behalf. Everyone in the family is rethinking insurance coverage, car, house, health etc. What worked before may not be the best for my future.

Knitting continues, mostly on my tree bark sweater. I have a couple of small projects also, including 2 pairs of socks, and something I'm calling a nose warmer for an elephant.

The weather is getting colder. At early morning dog walk time, it was 37 degrees, and there are lots of leaves on the ground. High temps are in the 50's. Tonight I think I will be home alone. Tomorrow I'll go to DSon's for breakfast, go to the gym and come home to make soup. I have 2 varieties planned. Chop, chop, stir, stir, and knit while it cooks.

Now for the rest of my life

2011-10-25T22:34:00.004-04:00

I dropped off the face of the earth earlier this month. My husband died October 13.

He had been in poor health for years with heart and lung problems. He got pneumonia and we thought we had that beat when he came home the end of September. We were wrong! He went back to the hospital 3 days later. All of our out of town children were able to get here in time and stayed through the funeral. We are now picking up the pieces.

I have a wonderful family for support. They all are doing things, sometimes with a speed that surprises me. Home remodeling continues and rooms are actually being finished.

I will be working on the cooking for one problem. I don't mind leftovers, especially on the days that I work. I'm glad I still have my dressmaking shop. I can't imagine sitting home alone every day. So far, my days off have been filled with things to do. Today I went to the gym, saw a doctor for a problem thumb, installed a new cd player at the shop with DD Jan's help, and picked up my husband's ashes. He is sitting on my dining room table, waiting for the thank you note party Friday night. We'll be eating Chinese, writing thank yous, and moving things into newly painted rooms. I'm not sure what else will happen when the people gather.

Knitting
I finished the purple socks, The yarn is from Crystal Palace. Blue beads bought locally. Pattern from Knitty.com, it's Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding.

Bad and good

2011-10-11T08:01:00.005-04:00

Well, I finished the chartreuse socks. A large portion was knit while sitting in the hospital with DH.
He went into the hospital on September 21 with pneumonia and a broken wrist suffered a few days before. We thought that the wrist was only sprained. He got out Sept. 30 and came home wiith oxygen tank in tow. That was Friday. He was slowly getting better.

On Monday, I got a call at work, that his breathing was worse and to come home immediately to watch the dog. He'd called 911. TheEMTs arrived shortly after I got home and did not get attacked by the dog defending her master.

Back at the hospital, he ended up on a breathing machine. That helped take the stress off his heart.

He was sedated, so he was not in pain and was asleep all the time. By Friday, they reduced the sedation and he began to wake up. He's now awake and frustrated that he can't talk due to the tubes down his throat. They're trying to wean him from the machine, but it's a slow process.

Luckily, our son works at a different hospital complex in the heart department, so is a little more knowledgeable about heart/lung issues. Also, his MIL died of heart problems a year or so ago. He sometimes asks better questions and he is the one to track down doctors to get answers.

Back to knitting
The green socks are a mystery pattern for SKA last month, called Watercress. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle color. This pattern had to be knit in chartreuse to count for prizes this month.

I'm on to the October challenge. I'm doing beads and texture other than knit purl rib. The pattern is called Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding, published in Knitty.com. The beads don't show well in this photo, they're light blue clear. The cuff has rows of thunderbirds and the rest of the sock is a garter rib. Yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Soyin Positive Purple color.

I'm still working on the feed only one person problem. Two of my daughters are alone much of the time, so I've asked them for advice. Today we have one solution to the problem of how to make one slice of french toast. DD is coming to paint bedrooms today. (One might actually be finished) She wants to eat french toast for lunch. I use raisin bread and top it with cinnamon. She lives alone and hasn't had french toast in a long time. I'll make 3-4 slices.

Last night when I got home, I made hamburger helper. The meat had been defrosted when DH was home, so needed to be used. I'll get 4 more meals from that, so won't have to think about cooking for a while. I don't mind leftovers and often freeze portions of large recipes, but most of that is winter food, and the weather is not winter like here right now. By the time I get it worked out, DH will be home.

Life got in the Way

2011-09-27T08:50:00.000-04:00

A number of things happened since I last posted.

DH turned 70 and a party was held. Family friends, out of town relatives. it was great! The kids organized it and brought the cake, with 70 candles. He needed help to blow them out.

After that, he managed to get pneumonia and is now in the hospital. He also broke a wrist, which we thought was only sprained. Stubborn guy didn't want to go to get it checked out. The wrist happened a few days before his breathing got bad, so it was a week until someone declared it broken.

I've joined a gym! Our city has a fitness center with a track and Nautilus machines as well as the usual cardio machines. I am only working 4 days a week (M, W, F, Sat), so I can go to the gym the other 3 days. It's working out well and I feel more energetic.

I seem to have finished two pairs of socks that didn't make the blog. DGD Ana has very small feet and a September birthday.. Her socks are knit mainly form Patons Kroy. The contrast yarn isn't as contrasty as I would like. It's left over from the socks I knit for DD.

My Stealth Knitting has been gifted. DD the remodeler got socks. She loves socks. These are knit from Grundl Four Seasons yarn that I got on sale a few years ago. The pattern doesn't show up much, I'll reknit it in a better yarn before releasing to the public.

I finished another SKA challenge. This month it was chartreuse or one of the specified designers. I had no chartreuse yarn, so chose a designer, Janneke Maat. I've been looking at her Aragorn Socks for quite a while.I used some Sushi sock that I got from The Unique Sheep in a man's sock club. The color and yardage wouldn't work for DH, so now it's mine. I had knit the club pattern in another yarn.

A friend offered some chartreuse yarn to me. She had 3 different skeins in sock weight. I chose Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle. The Dream in Color website is being remodeled, so I hope this works. The SKA Mystery Sock is growing. The patter is called Watercress by Lise Brackbill. I'll finish the first sock today.

Breakfast time! I'm having trouble cooking for one right now. Lack of time contributes. DD will be here later to work on the remodeling. I'm making Roasted Tomato Soup that I found in a Cooking for Two cookbook.

Things are better now

2011-09-05T10:33:00.014-04:00

The electrician finished his work and everything works as expected, finally. We have a new kitchen ceiling. It still needs priming and painting. Since this picture, it was textured and a new fan was installed over the stove. The texture picture shows the other end of the kitchen.

Worker damage
The man who did the texture work really seems to know what he is doing on ceilings. However, in other things, not so much. In helping install the fan, he stepped on the top of my stove bending the center and damaging the surface. Luckily our contractor could repair the bend. It took him a couple of hours to dis-assemble the stove top, straighten it, and put it together again, hours which were deducted from texture man's pay. It's not a new stove and chances of getting a new top were slim. We're relatively happy with the repair. At least everything still works.

DH and DD have been running tv cable through the walls of all rooms were we will want a tv. this, of course, has resulted in language I didn't want to hear, multiple trips to Radio Shack for supplies, new tools, and finally, success. We will have connections like this in 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and basement. We don't have that many tvs, but the thinking is to do it now, before insulating the house.

Ideally, all wires should be in place before we get insulation blown into the walls, making the house snug and cozy for winter. That is why the flurry of activity in electricity and tv cables. The electricity needed doing, the tv cable was more optional. Our neighbor insulated a couple of years ago, and cut his heating bill in half. We cut ours in half by installing new windows, now we'll cut it again. Next year we'll put siding on the house, and stop spending money like a drunken sailor. We expect it to pay for itself in about 5 years.

Knitting
I seem to have missed showing off the latest pairs of birthday socks. For my son-in-law with the large feet, I extended the yarn by adding color to the leg. I still need to write the pattern, but I have the charts for the leg done. The pattern will offer a number of options for the leg portion of the sock. This man really loves my socks, because they fit!

In addition, I knit a pair for DD the remodeler. I know I didn't show them there, because she reads the blog. Because of the yarn colors, I used a simple pattern. It still doesn't show up well in the photos. The "in progress" photo shows the pattern, k2, p2 ribbing offset every 6 rows. Unfortunately, this doesn't show well in the later photos.

This is the daughter who shrunk a couple of things earlier this year. The socks were not supposed to shrink, the wrist warmers were wool, but she forgot. I won't be using that yarn for socks again. All gift socks are now being knit with bullet proof yarn. The brown socks are Patons Kroy 4 ply with Regia contrast. The other socks are Grundl Four Seasons. I seem to need 25% nylon for gift socks. Even the careful people occasionally find socks coming out of their dryer. Maybe my sister will get some fancier yarn. I know she hangs sock to dry, and is a sock knitter.

The tree bark sweater is up to the "armholes" in back, there being no armholes, just a square piece. I slowed down on it because I realized that another birthday looms, and the recipient is back in town. She took off for parts unknown (kids!!) but is now back. The socks would be finished now, but I knit the first foot on leg needles, which were too large. Reknitting commences within minutes. Luckily these are the smallest adult feet in the family. Main color is Patons Kroy 4 ply, contrast is left from above socks. There was more dark color in the variegated yarn than I expected, so not the best contrast. I'll choose better colors and knit another pair before I release the pattern.

I will write patterns for both pairs of socks, but will delay release until I have samples that better show the stitch patterns. This may be the winter for reknitting patterns that have been on hold. I also have a number of them where the original socks were black, again not a good choice for photos.

I caved

2011-08-13T17:32:00.003-04:00

On June 6, I finally started a sweater called Cables After Whiskey designed by Lucy Neatby. I had swatched previously, using a smaller needle that I thought was appropriate for the yarn. Knit, knit, knit. After about 7" I measured the width of the sweater. Not good. It was smaller than needed. This sweater has a lot of cables. Cables pull in. The swatch did not have so many cables. Rip, rip, rip.

Last week I recalculated how many stitches I needed for the desired width. I thought I had many more stitches than the pattern, but I had missed the drastic increase in stitch count after the ribbing. My ribbing is closer to the width of the body. Again, I knit about 7". I decided to check yarn quantity. I'm making my sweater a little smaller, since oversize is what I am, not what I want in a sweater. The pattern calls for 1000 gm of yarn, I have 750 gm! Rip, rip, rip.

Version #3 - I'm using the needle size recommended in the pattern. I'm liking the fabric I'm making. Size medium calls for 800 gm of yarn, but I'm shortening the sweater by 7". Again, I'm making a loose lower ribbing, casting on 1 stitch less than required for the body. This will make a nice seam in the ribbing. I added the last stitch just before the body. I should have a nice loose sport weight sweater in my size.

Remodeling
We have new lights in the kitchen! We need a new ceiling before the fan light goes up (where the hanging light is). We still have some knob and tube wiring, mostly in overhead lights. It will be carrying much less of a load now, and all the outlets are grounded except one. The contractor has been called for an estimate on the ceiling. This is not a job we want to do in house. A number of outlets on the first floor are not connected, but will be on the next electrician visit. We'll also get smoke detectors wired into our hallway. We'll need to put battery operated ones in the bedrooms. Too much work to wire them in.

We also got the basement stairs painted with the first coat of paint. Progress is being made!

Remodel week 2

2011-08-11T14:20:00.009-04:00

We are still living with many rooms looking like this. Everything has been moved to the center of the room and all baseboards have been removed. Things are looking up, because there are new outlets on this floor and almost all outlets are grounded. The one that is not is in the center hall and the wires run between sets of stairs.

The old outlets come through the baseboards and the new ones are above them, but the wires run through the wall studs.

I made a Home Depot run this morning to return all the little things that were piling up unused, broken, not needed. $119.00 worth. I was able to get the last of the light bulbs needed for the kitchen and a couple of other things. When I got home, I had to go back and get some pieces needed to hang the can lights in the kitchen. We're now down to $71.00 on the card.

The kitchen looked like this at lunch time. Every flat surface is covered, to say nothing of debris on the floor, the ladder in front of the stove etc. Lunch came from Wendy's and was eaten on the back porch table.

I can't even wash clothes, because the washer is next to the breaker boxes and is being used as a table ( the top is flat when closed and has circuit breakers and tool on it). I still need to vacuum ceiling debris out of the tub, so I don't ruin the pump. It took a few days to find and recover DH's small shop vac for the job. That is now sitting next to the washer. There are some advantages to having a lot of clothes, but the underwear supply is running low. I'll vacuum when the electrician leaves.

Did I show you what I made last week? It's a harem outfit for a 1 yr old baby. Grandma paid for it. It must be a first grandchild to make all that fuss. They had a big party in their back yard. I could see the tent and some of the decorations on my morning dog walk.

Knitting is progressing, of course. One project is a birthday gift for someone who reads this blog, so no pictures of that one. I don't have a good picture yet anyway, so my Ravelry project page is blank. That doesn't happen very often. I'll be taking project and camera outside shortly.

My other project is a sweater for me. I haven't done a pullover in quite a while. The pattern is by Lucy Neatby, called Cables After Whiskey. It comes with 3 pages of random numbers. All cables are 4 x 4. For certain numbers, you cable to the front. For others, you cable to the back. Some numbers are ignored, and some mean to knit 4 stitches. I've found that it is important to keep the columns of 4 stitches lined up. Other than that, mistakes don't matter. I've started calling it my Tree Bark sweater.

August means count fairs. I judged knitting etc. at one fair Sunday. The other judging is at the end of the month, since the fair runs over Labor Day weekend.

Resurfacing from the mess

2011-08-02T16:07:00.015-04:00

It's still going on, but temporarily, I have full computer access. We now have a wireless LAN, so i can use my laptop anywhere in the house, but my passwords are stored on the desktop. Ravelry doesn't work right on the laptop, through Internet Explorer. The desktop uses Firefox, so I've been frustrated with no desktop. I mainly use the laptop at work, where I don't need the internet, so that's a temporary problem.

We're getting our wiring updated, which required ceiling removal in the basement and the kitchen. Both ceilings were damaged already. Plumbing leaks etc.

The kitchen is a little dark with only 2 light bulbs, but we're coping.

The basement was well lighted, but will be less so for now. Hanging wires have disappeared, leaving 3 1st floor outlets unpowered. The main room has 5 new lights, including one at the base of the stairs. We missed that one when it went away for a couple of days. We also have new outlets on all the walls where there were none before.

The utility room had 2 small florescent fixtures and a couple of other bulbs. Now the laundry area is quite bright and the dark corners are lit. Part of the old lighting had to work around 2 large boilers original to the house. We now have one small one, so more empty space.

The electrician will be back next week to update the 1st and 2nd floors.

Meanwhile, I've been knitting. I've finished the truck sweater for WB, but the family is on vacation. I watched the Tour de France bicycle race for 3 weeks. Fascinating! At the end of the race, the sweater looked like this, body finished sleeves started, still in need of neck and front ribbing.

This is the finished back, with trucks going in both directions. On the front, they all go to the center. I lengthened the body because WB has a long torso, and lengthened the sleeves, because it adds to the wearing life. The pattern is one by Ann Norling.

I did finish the Milestone socks for his Dad in time for the party, a 50th birthday bash. They won't be worn until winter.

I'm working on socks for big foot now, with a delivery date of about 8/17 in Florida. He really appreciates the socks and wears them to death, so more are always welcome. This time I used colorwork to stretch the yarn to fit the feet. I have a couple of yards left from sock #1. Size 14 wide feet use more than 100 gm of sock yarn!

More destruction and rebuilding

2011-07-11T21:42:00.002-04:00

While I was appreciating the carpet removal, the remodeling gods were planning new challenges.

The carpet was hardly picked up off the curb, when DD started removing pine paneling next to the basement stairs. She was so quick at wood removal that the contractor decided to take out the steps that day. End of the day, we had no access to the basement, where the computers are, as well as part of my rabbit pattern. DD wrote a blog post with photos. I was at work!

The next day was devoted to building a new set of stairs. I worked all morning, deadlines to meet on Friday. She has a blog post about this day too! "How to replace stairs in three easy steps." She now has a few new skills and has decided that her basement stairs don't need replacing right now. The new stairs are much more sturdy than the originals, which lasted 90 years.

This week's knitting challenge is the guild toy competition. Did I say that I'm knitting a rabbit?
I got to the point where I needed the pattern for the inner ears and the pattern was still out of reach. I had scheduled overalls knitting for Saturday and assembly for Sunday. The straps for the overalls were not finished until Sunday afternoon, but assembly went quickly. All I needed was a quick trip to work for the two buttons on the straps.

I won first prize in the guild competition in the completely knitted toy category. We also had categories for bought toy, knitted clothes and a new category for other charity knitting. Usually I end up with an honorable mention. This is the first time I have won.

Next deadline is Saturday of this week, when I need a pair of socks for someone turning 50. I hope DSIL likes black socks. That's the color for Solid socks this month. I've designed these, but kept the pattern simple, black is hard to work in pattern. At this point, one sock is finished and work progresses on the leg of the second.

DGS William is also celebrating his birthday this weekend, but there is no way I'll be able to get his gift done. Discussion with his Mom resulted in a two family get together after the sweater is done. I have a pattern for a cardigan with trucks on it. I've put together the yarn kit, and read and reread the pattern. I might start the ribbing tonight. We watch tv in the bedroom before bed, and the light is not as good up there for patterned sock knitting in black yarn.

Green Socks finished and gifted

2011-07-05T15:31:00.010-04:00

I seem to have gotten myself into a period of deadline knitting this month. Lack of planning ahead, I guess. The green socks are finished and have been given. They were completed with 24 hrs to spare. The pattern is written and up on Ravelry. With an easy stitch pattern it went quickly. An unpatterned foot helps with speed also.

I named them Turtle toes, not terrible original, but the yarn color was Turtle multi. There is some interesting pooling going on in the one sock, but it will be inside a shoe, so the two feet don't have to match.

I've started the next challenge, another pair of man's socks to be given on July 16. Again, a simple pattern, but the black yarn complicates things a little. I had the yarn and black is one of the choices for the Ravelry Solid Socks group. This month' there are 3 choices, black, white, or gray. Next time I buy sock yarn, I need to remember that gift socks will be machine washed and dried. Better to avoid accidents in the manufacture.

The bunny has more parts, but no photo yet. I want to knit all the pieces before stuffing, so that I can weigh them and subtract that weight from my spreadsheet. I need the rabbit by the 11th for our guild meeting. All other knitting projects are on hold, except for these two.

On the remodeling front, DD continues to tear apart out house in the name of progress. An electrician should be coming in the next week to rewire the rest of our house. that's two floors and the basement. One outlet per room is really not enough these days, although when the house was built in 1921, I'm sure that it was plenty. Various workarounds have been used throughout the years, but this time a professional has been called and will bring us up to current code. This requires pulling the baseboards, so he can channel the new wires behind them. We have a stack of numbered baseboards, and the pile will get bigger as more rooms are involved.

Today she pulled up the last of the carpet on the second floor. We have hardwood floors underneath, although they need refinishing. That is not on our to do list for now. We moved furniture, disassembled the bed, made a mess, and got it cleaned up. Carpet was tossed off our upstairs back porch before being hauled to the curb for garbage pickup tomorrow morning. I continue to be surprised at the things we have saved over the years. Not that we saved them, but the fact that there is so much that we don't remember having. It gets easier and easier to purge.

OK that's finished, now what?

2011-06-25T19:46:00.008-04:00

Friday June 24, 2011

Depression?

I finished the Plymouth Zino scarf yesterday and it is blocked and probably dry. It doesn’t take long. I washed it and put in the blocking wires this morning. I’m feeling that sinking feeling that I get almost every time I finish a project.

I’ve been playing with shawl ideas and swatching, but I’m not ready to start one yet. Left over sock yarn in a similar colorway was used for the swatch. I think I need fewer holes. The color seems to fight with the lace.

I have some birthday socks to knit. This is the pair that I knit the swatches for, and decided to change patterns. The new pattern is going well, but I’m not feeling the joy. I expect it will get better as I get farther into the project.. Right now, it keeps my fingers busy, and will result in a gift for my son whose birthday is July 5.

I also need to make an animal for our guild toy competition/give away. I have a rabbit pattern picked out. I need that by July 11. Then I can start the shawl, maybe. I need a gift for son-in-law’s 50^th birthday. I’m thinking socks again. Then there are the socks for big-foot., who has a birthday in early August.. He is soooo appreciative, as what I knit are the only socks that really fit.

Saturday June 26

I'm liking the Zino shawlette. A large shawl would have a sort of granny square effect. I'll keep that thought.

The swatch was knit with Plymouth Sockotta, left over from socks. The new yarn is also by Plymouth, and I expect the same sort of random colors. The next swatch will have fewer holes. I think the needle size is good for this yarn.

The rabbit is started. It's a Fiona McTague pattern from Knitted Toys. I've started with a smaller needle than recommended, but the pattern is written in stitches and rows, not inches, so I'll continue. I'm using WoolEase sprinkles.

Thoughts on Designing

2011-06-19T19:13:00.016-04:00

I've been thinking recently about shawl designs, and trying out a couple of ideas. A year ago, I was given two balls of Plymouth Zino, a sock yarn with long color repeats, and was asked to design shawls with them.

It's not so easy to create the pattern, while trying not to muddy the colors. Here's yarn #1. This is the point where I gave up on this design. I think it is the third try and I didn't want to rip it out again. I used one ball of yarn, and it is more of a collar because when I cast on, I misfigured and ended up with 3 triangles.

I like the stitch pattern. I'm not sure about the lace edging, or the 3 triangles. I wore the shawlette to TNNA earlier this month and got a lot of positive response, which was nice. I may still sell a version of this one.

The other ball of yarn was more muted/darker. I tired separate motifs with this one. I used a square set in the center back on the diagonal. When I finished the square, I left all stitches live. The side motifs are triangles, made of 2 sections of the square. The pieces were joined by looping the live stitches. I don't know if I can explain that in a pattern so someone else could do it. It was a good idea, but somewhat of a pain to do. The lace was worked directly on the live stitches. I tried working it perpendicular to the main pattern, which is the most common way to knit lace edgings, but the color blocks looked wrong.

I'm liking the lace edging. I tried knitting straight onto the edge, but the pattern is set up so that it doesn't flow well into the edging. The pattern for the square doesn't have a consistent number of stitches between segments, so I may not keep the charts for it. I decided to frame the motif section and then knit the lace edge. It's looking better so far. If I use the idea again, I'll try a pattern that has segments with stitch counts that are consistent, so the lace edge can flow smoothly from the pattern in the square.

This why I don't do magazine submissions unless I've already worked out the bugs in a pattern. The turn around is too quick for trial and error.

I've also designed a couple of pairs of socks after knitting other people's sock patterns for quite a while. I'm happy with this one, but haven't written the pattern yet. The charts are finished in their final form, So I just need to sit down with a little bit of time. I don't need to write the pattern all at once. I can do it in bite size pieces.

This sock has a cable on the foot that takes 2 cable needles, so it is fairly complex. I like how the leg transitions into the foot, but I need a better photo for the pattern. The photo of both socks shows some imperfections that I really didn't see in real life. The lighting needs to show the texture, but not show up problems I didn't know about. I did something a little different with the heel and gusset, and want it to show up in the picture.

I'm also working on some socks for my son. Stitch pattern A contained lace and cables. I thought I could rework the pattern to have a non-lace option by replacing the yarn overs with another increase. After 2 swatches, I decided that it was too much work and would not show up with the multicolor yarn I plan on using. The top swatch looks good, but the pattern is less defined on the lower ones. A new stitch pattern has been found that fits the stitch count and will be much easier to knit.

There are so many things to think about in creating a design, I was talking to one of my daughters about a child's sweater I have for sale on Ravelry. I designed this one a number of years ago. Recently someone contacted me with math questions about the armhole. I completely reworked the numbers to better fit the pattern repeat, created a new PDF, and uploaded the new PDF to Ravelry and Patternfish. Upon review of the pattern, I realized that I had learned a lot since the original writing.

New Sock Designs

2011-06-16T16:51:00.010-04:00

I've finished another pair of socks and still need to write the pattern, although the charts are done which is the hardest part. The yarn is from Knit Picks and the Solid socks group color was orange. SKA had a write your own pattern challenge this month, so I did. They also have a self-striping challenge, but I don't seem to have any yarn that qualifies. I do tend to buy solids and semi-solids because I like texture.

I have some yarn that I thought would stripe, but the color lengths are too short. I'm working on a pattern for that one that would have worked with stripes. The hitch is that they are supposed to move up and down by in creases and decreases, rather than just be straight.

Last weekend was busy. On Saturday, I had to work, but SKA had a photo scavenger hunt. All photos had to have a sock in progress in the photo. This is the first year I've participated. I asked lots of friends to help me. A neighbor provided the child under 12 on a bicycle. He was supposed to hold the sock, but he'd only had the bike about 5 days and was busy. Another friend in uniform held the sock, but I didn't realize he should have been on his bicycle. There was a limit of 10 photos. I think I posted 9. Some of my best ideas didn't work, but there's always next year. I went to see a world famous politician, but his monument was closed about 1/2 hour before I got there. There were hundreds of non-knitters in the cemetery too, but I needed to be knitting in front of them. DH will be put to work on more photos next year.

Sunday I went to Columbus, OH for the TNNA trade show. My LYS owner drove, so I got a lot of knitting done. Talked to many people about designing and got a few good handouts. I also had Jeni's ice cream for lunch ( a must if I'm in the area)

I'm growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in my garden this year as well as a few herbs and the usual flowers. Last year I tried tomatoes, but planted them under two trees. The area used to have lots of sunshine. I did get some tomatoes, but this year should be better.

Winding Up May

2011-06-05T21:24:00.012-04:00

The last prom has been held. The orange dress had lots more rhinestones added to it. It wasn't hard, just time consuming. I can live without the glue covered fingers, however.

My last challenge was to shorten a dress from the middle. The skirt fit without hemming, but the top stood up from her shoulders. I took 3 1/2" out at the waist. I wasn't entirely happy with the fit, but it was a last minute job and had the advantage of lacing up the back.

We had our usual Memorial Day gathering at my daughter's house. It was warm enough for kids in the sprinkler, although the grass in back of the house was a swamp and we all sat on the driveway.

I finished another pair of socks, a mystery pair with beads strung on the yarn, a first for me. The design is called Artichoke.

I also finished a sweater that has been in the works since last August. The pattern was easy, so it was my go to project for when I needed mindless knitting. Once upon a time last summer, our guild had a scarf knit-along. I loved the yarn and there was lots left over, so i started a top down sweater, thinking that I could finish it with something else if the yarn ran out. I probably could knit a shawl with what's left now.

The pattern is fairly lacy, so I'll be wearing something under it. The picture tries to show the sheerness as well as the subtle colors. for a couple of hours, I had nothing on my needles except another fashionista scarf. From now until the September guild meeting, I'll be knitting scarves, although I've slowed down now. Total stands at 13 1/2 scarves.

This month';s sock challenge is DYO in one group and orange in another. Another option is stripes. Use self striping yarn, but pick a pattern that is not straight stripes, make them wave or do zigzags. I have a design for that too. I'm not sure my yarn qualifies for self striping, but will fit the DYO option. Photos later.

I've been working on the garden. All the annuals flowers are planted. Rain really slowed that job down. Every time I had the time. it rained. I also bought tomatoes and peppers in a number of varieties.

Remodeling continues. One bedroom is finished and another one needs to be emptied. DH decided that the guest be needed to be replaced, so we bought a bed frame. We'll keep the headboard. He also decided that it was time to replace the waterbed. The weight of it has caused damage to walls below it, and it will need to be moved for painting and electrical work. We bought a mattress to fit the frame. I'd really hate to give up the drawers under the bed. I'd have nowhere to put all my socks.

Remodeling daughter has given up sugar for the next month, so I'm having to get creative with the lunches I leave for her. Recently it's been salads, so I made dressing last week. I've found that I can use plain yogurt and sour cream as well as olive oil and wine vinegar. Mayo contains sugar, and I'm not ready to try making my own.

My favorite picnic salad is made from seedless watermelon, tomatoes, and fresh basil, dressed with olive oil and wine vinegar.

Prom season is ending

2011-05-23T21:53:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I wrote about rhinestones on dresses. This is one dress. It started with a few stones on the sides. The girl had taken all of the stones off the center. I had to replace them all to cover the glue marks. The small stones are stick on stones, which are easy to apply. I use a razor blade to peel the backing. The stones stick to the blade and are easy to place on the dress. I have no idea how well they stay put.

The dress is lying on a table. It also has rhinestones on the center of the ruffles at the top.

I like this dress better. It had no rhinestones on it to start with. It also needed extensive alterations for fit and style. It was strapless, but she wanted a low back. You can imagine what would happen if you leaned over and there were no straps. Luckily the dress came with optional straps. Most of these stones are the glue on kind. The edge is sewn on and starts at the center back. If you make the picture bigger, you may be able to see the small gold rhinestones.

Both dresses are short. That seems to be the fashion this year. I make a lot of money on prom dresses, but I'll be glad when things calm down again.

Rain, rain go away

2011-05-22T12:11:00.016-04:00

Graduation (PhD style)
It rained on my son's graduation party! He had reserved a pavilion in a local park, so it wasn't a total washout, but at about 50 degrees and misting, it was RAW and uncomfortable. Hamburgers and Hot dogs were served, along with chips and cupcakes.

Winter coats were the fashion of the day. The setting was beautiful, but we didn't stay long. It was just too cold.

We have grown a large crop of mushrooms, due to the continual rain. They are starting to die off with a day or so of dry weather. Here's a close up.

We had breakfast with son's family this morning, and DH was asked if he had thawed out yet. It was the last breakfast of the season at the Marine Corps Gunny Hall (his father-in-law is a long time member).

Socks
The blue socks are finished. Beads show up better in real life. The didn't qualify for Ravelry's Solid Socks group although the color reads as semi-solid. It also reads as blue and green. The do count for the Crystal Palace Knit With the Palace challenge. They also count as a sock/yarn combo that has been in the pipeline for a couple of years. I'm glad to get them finished. They also are part of the Spring Stash Dash. That finished 2 of 6 original projects for that challenge.

The next pair of socks is a SKA mystery project by Janel Laidman, in an earth color for Solid Socks. I actually have clue #3 done on one sock and am waiting for clue #4. This is a fun pattern, partly because Janel included lots of interactive links. the pattern was originally titled 5-22-24-13-7-12-19-15-9. If you followed the key on the pattern (literally a key picture) you were led to a clue that said A=5. The title translates to Artichoke. There have been a number of artichoke links as well as links for her cast on and the wrapping technique.

Work
It's been rhinestone week and my fingers are glue covered. This year I'm adding rhinestones to prom dresses. Glue on stones gets on to my fingers, even though I actually apply the glue with a toothpick. I'll try to get a photo or two when I go to work tomorrow.

Problem?
We got a photo from our neighbors as well as a request. Could we feed their dogs? It seems they've been raptured! The rest of us are still here and have to do laundry and mow lawns as usual, at least until the Mayan end of the world next year.
How God is Managing the Rapture.

Scarves
I'm up to 12 scarves and I still have bulky yarn odd balls. I'll keep going. The September guild meeting is the collection deadline. I don't do a lot of charity knitting but this one appealed to me and the timing was right. I used up about 650 yards of yarn and finished 9 balls. I'm also donating 10 balls to another guild project, freeing up much space in my yarn drawers.

Missing sock and other stash reduction

2011-05-14T21:51:00.009-04:00

Sock Mystery
The missing sock mystery is still not solved. I bought more yarn and knit a 3rd sock.There is enough leftover to knit another pair. I keep waiting for the missing sock to turn up. The pattern is Knotty or Knice by Chrissy Gardiner. The yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Silk.

Blue socks
Once upon a time, I knit a pair of wonderful socks that shrunk when I washed them for blocking. Crystal Palace replaced the yarn and I've finally knitting the replacements. The pattern is Moonchild by Adrienne Fong. The new yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Superwash. I've used 8/0 clear AB beads.

These socks actually don't qualify for any prizes. I had hoped that they'd work for Solid Socks, but was denied. The Crystal Palace blog has a contest using their yarn. It was time to stop petting it and start knitting with their yarn.

Both pairs of socks are part of my Spring Stash Dash challenge. I'm also working on the gray sweater.

Mother's Day was celebrated with all available family. Thirteen of us invaded BobEvans at 8:00 in the morning. The rest of the day was quiet.

Guild project
Monday night our guild had a speaker as part of our charity knitting. She represented women2women-knitting4peace. Among other projects distributed in third world countries, she talked about skinny scarves given as rewards to kids who do things like show up for medical exams. I was looking in my stash for bulky yarn for another project. I found many single balls not suitable for beginning knitters. With big needles and bulky yarn, I can knit a scarf in a couple of hours. so far I have 6 of them. I'm aiming for 10 scarves. I may do more if I have the yarn.

Tomorrow, our son receives his PhD. This is the third PhD in our overeducated family. We're not going to the ceremony, but will gather at a local park for burgers etc. I din't ask him, but I'm presuming that he is marching and making his teenagers watch.

Miracles and mysteries

2011-05-01T14:50:00.011-04:00

Mother of Bride
Success on the first fitting! It was just a blouse, after all. I didn't write down the pattern number and it's gone to the customer. (it's an easy Butterick pattern with pull on pants and a couple of blouse options) I didn't have the camera to take a finished photo.

I made a few changes to the pattern. I put an underlay under the buttons and loops. (matte gold buttons). since this is a blouse I didn't want skin showing.

Also, the pattern showed sleeves with a contrast band and a 1 1/2" hem. I used a wider band and folded it to eliminate the hem and give a better look.

Another short deadline miracle!

This week's sewing miracle involved a 3X prom dress and a girl who needed 10" added to the bust. Mom did buy fabric that was a close match. I added a stripe from top of dress to hem on each side. I also had to adjust the bust shaping (twice) and make new straps for what had been a strapless dress. The optional straps that came with the dress were too short and there was no way this dress was staying up without straps. I just wish they had bought the bra before the first fitting! Luckily strap shortening solved that problem. From now on, if you don't have the bra at the first fitting, there will be a large charge for the alterations it causes. I should have done this years ago. I guess I'm getting less tolerant of ignorance as I age.

Socks
I've been working on green socks. I finished sock #1 before Easter dinner. It has gone walk about! I've been looking since Tuesday night and today I finally ordered replacement yarn online. Two more balls will give me enough for 5 socks, which guarantees that i can make a pair of what's left over. It also made more sense than ordering one ball of yarn and doubling the price with postage. I didn't see any other sock yarn that called to me, one of the disadvantages of having a healthy stash.

I have been plugging away on sock#2, hoping that finishing it will cause it's mate to appear. It's been very frustrating and discouraging. The possibility exists that the sock went somewhere it won't come back from. I will finish it sometime before bed time tonight. Then I can start another sock and wait to see what happens by the time the new yarn gets here.

Easter Dinner
There were 7 1/2 of us at dinner. DH came down with the flu and didn't participate. He gave it to me and one daughter, so it was a less than productive week. All is better now. It's been about 5 years since I hosted a holiday meal. The dining room is where remodeling things tend to land, tools, things moved to open up the work space, etc. It was available for a week or so after Christmas until the next project started. I couldn't even take the tree down, because I need to spread out the ornament boxes to put things away. It didn't help that the tree was surrounded with tools and things.

I did finish the pair of mitts for myself. This used up the majority of the yarn from DD#3. Besides it only took a couple of days. I keep forgetting how quickly heavier yarn knits up.

Today the Tivo machine took a break from sports and showed us some opera. Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West.
I was not familiar with this one, but the story is simple and the ending unexpected and a little unrealistic, as often happens in opera. I'm glad we have more opera scheduled.

Holiday sewing

2011-04-21T14:43:00.001-04:00

The Passover garments all were picked up on time. No last minute Easter things yet. It's only Thursday and I'm off today, cleaning my house for Sunday dinner with the family. I was making a dress for Easter, but the customer had to leave town early (a funeral), and bought something. We've had a fitting and it will be done when she gets back in two weeks.

I did make myself a t-shirt and am working on a Mother of the Bride outfit.

The Stashdown group on Ravelry has a Stashdash challenge. Show the stash you plan to knit up by July 1. Most of what is in my photo was already in the pipeline.
The gray sweater should be finished by then, The green socks in upper right are moving along. Two of the other projects are socks also. The pile of brown yarn will be a sweater. I've already swatched for it. The yarn in the lower right will be a small shawl. Chart is written.

So what did I work on??? Replacement mitts for DD Jan, who shrunk a pair earlier this year. These are a similar color, knit from Plymouth Encore, and will not shrink. The pattern is Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes. Model is named Bronte, and was more cooperative than I expected. I only used half of the yarn, so I'm knitting myself a pair.

Time to get back to laundry and decluttering. There is so much stuff from remodeling to move. We put coats back in the front closet and put 1/3 of them in the donate pile. I think all of them were bought by my MIL, and we never did love them. Don't need them now. I'm sure we still kept too much! I'm trying to purge as I replace, but it goes against my true nature. I just feel weighed down by possessions. Also life styles change, and what we aren't using gets shoved to the back of the closet. Those things are now visible and will leave the house.

Rhetorical question

2011-04-16T20:12:00.002-04:00

Why do people wait until the last minute? Maybe this week is Miracle Week, not just Holy Week.

Spring holidays started with the Jewish holidays starting Friday night. Phone call #1 can you hem some pants by tonight? Yes. They come in with 6 months worth of mending and want it all tonight. I did it and collected the money.

Phone call #2 can you hem some pants by Monday? Yes, I work on Saturday. Mother comes in with son (cooperative) and daughter (in meltdown stage). Son leaves winter jacket and I have no phone # where they are staying. They are in town from Miami. They'll get the jacket back with the pants Monday. Mom may not know where he left the jacket, and many Jewish people do not use telephones on the Sabbath.

Today, another one. Three pairs of pants for Monday. Adult son in town for holidays. I was the first stop after dropping the suitcase.

Easter is next week. I'm bracing myself. Did I say I have an alterations shop?

Major knitting has been my gray sweater. I should take another photo of it. This is easy knitting, a four row pattern with three rows being knit 3, purl 3. My green socks have a pattern which requires chart watching, so not so easy.

What should I start next? I have a shawl charted. I have ideas for a magazine submission. Maybe I'll do that one tomorrow. There's also some bookwork/bill paying.

Same old stuff with socks

2011-04-14T21:15:00.004-04:00

Saturday was the day for A Knitter's Fantasy in Youngstown, OH. This is a one day conference with classes, lunch fashion show, and MARKET. I taught two classes; Mosaic Knitting and Pattern writing. Both classes ended early when I ran out of info to teach them, but they were happy. The morning class went to the market and the afternoon class went home.

I got paid in Market money and bought Nancy Marchant's Brioche book and a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Sock yarn.

I finished the socks I was knitting. I called them Dreaming of Violets, but the pattern really is Grun ist die Hoffnung by Stephanie van der Linden. The yarn is Aussi Sock. The sock starts with the lace motif on the foot. The toe is knit, then the sole of the foot, then the heel. The leg is stockinette and the lace ribbing is a pattern from a Japanese knitting book.

The home remodeling is moving along. The crew has finished with patching the hall, and the walls are painted. Woodwork painting starts tomorrow.

The daffodils mean that yard work season is starting. Leaves to rake, Weed to dig up, new flowers to plant. Warm weather to enjoy.

My latest sock is knit from yarn bought at the Guild Yarn Hop last year. It's Crystal Palace Panda Silk, a combination of bamboo, superwash wool, and silk. The pattern is a Chrissy Gardiner pattern from Interweave Knits that I've wanted to do for a couple of years. The yarn is luscious.

A touch of lace

2011-04-08T20:40:00.003-04:00

I seem to be on a lace kick at the moment; baby hats, a crocheted bath mat, a shawlette, mitts, and yellow socks so far this year. Then I knit a lace scarf for DD#5. It's a simple drop stitch pattern. I had one ball of yarn and knit until it was gone. The yarn is Crystal Palace Yarn's Sausalito, a superwash wool/nylon blend.

The lime green mystery socks are finished. The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy sock. I have a surprising number of lime green clothes, so these will get a lot of wear.

I've been trying to design a scarf from variegated yarn for Plymouth Yarn. This one is 3 triangles, sort of like a sailor collar. I'm not really happy with the edging, but I'm tired of working with the yarn and I give up. I do have another color of the same yarn and will try a different idea with that. The yarn is Zino, a wool/nylon blend designed for socks. The repeats are long. I've seen nice mitts from it also.
I thought I was casting on enough stitches for 2 triangles plus edges, but it worked out to be 3 triangles. I think it is long enough, but I haven't written the pattern, because I am unhappy with the final product.

This scarf has had a cultural education. In addition to going to the opera, it went to the theater. We saw "The Complete Works of Shakespeare - abridged" It was great fun! Three men, one of whom took all the female parts, all in pumpkin breeches, tights, and Converse High tops. They said they knew Hamlet forwards and backwards, and did it both ways. "Be to not or, be to" etc...

This week's project is an oddly constructed lace sock designed by Stephanie van der Linden. It starts with the square lace motif, continues down the short row toe off one side of the square. The sole is attached to live stitches on the sides of the square and a short row heel worked when foot length reaches the right point. From that point, the leg is stockinette. I added a lace ribbing tot he top. I'm using recycled yarn, so want to wash the sock before final photos.

The yarn is Oasis Yarns Aussi Sock, which used to be a sweater. It's along story. I didn't design or knit the sweater, but I was supposed to redesign it. Not possible from where I started.

Mud season with a touch of green.

2011-03-24T14:57:00.007-04:00

Progress continued on the yellow socks. One was finished. I have also started another mystery sock. Do i need more socks??? NO! Do I want more socks??? Yes! Why, because they're pretty, and fun to knit. The yarn for this one is really interesting. I bought it on the guild yarn hop last fall. I was at YarnMarket and it called to me. It's Ty-Dy Sock from Knit One Crochet Too.

The weekend cultural adventure did not see the sock. It was time to work on the shawl I keep in my purse. I probably showed this before, but not recently. The yarn is Zino from Plymouth Yarns. They asked me to make a shawl from it, but I'm getting no response to e-mails, so think they don't like what I've done. Therefore, I have little movitation to work on it.

What was the cultural adventure? Last time was ballet. This time it was opera. This is the third time that the Cleveland Orchestra has presented fully staged opera at Severance Hall. Our director imports the production from the Zurich Opera, which must have a similar stage, not build for theater with wings and fly loft, etc. Scenery is minimal, but effective. So far, all the operas have been by Mozart. This time it was Don Giovanni. We've seen another production of this in the past. This was very different. It also helps that we have seats in the fourth row, so we are right on top of the stage. I hope to see more operas live with the Cleveland Orchestra, but no plans have been announced.

Spring has come to NE Ohio. Warm weather, warm enough to wear my Birkenstocks. Cold weather, like today with a hint of snow. Lots of rain, causing mud. Green things poking out of the ground. So far, I've seen crocuses and snow drops on our dog walks. Nothing blooms in my yard yet, except mud, especially where the snow plow tore up the lawn.

I have been alternating the yellow socks with a one ball scarf. It's much longer now. I'll probably have to spread it out to see the pattern. The yarn is CPY Sausilito, which has color variation. The yellow socks are finished and the sun came out. Here's a view of the socks, some day lilies, and mud covered by dark mulch.

I now have all the clues for the mystery sock, so I'm working on that.

I also made myself a pair of slacks. I found some nice plaid fabric at a very good price. I used it as a muslin for a new pattern. Can't find the one I used last time, so I traced from the last pair of slacks. I like the new pattern better, but it needs a little more tweaking. I'm wearing the plaid slacks now. Nothing like wearing something to know if the fit is right. All it need now is a little taking in at the back waist. Next up is a knit top and then another version of the slacks.

Socks and More Socks

2011-03-14T08:46:00.005-04:00

The fireworks socks are finished. They go to knitting guild tonight for show and share and then I can wear them. Even though I went forward on the second sock, not back and forth, it seemed to take a long time.

The socks went to the ballet Wednesday night. I was at the heel flap, and worked before the show and at the two intermissions. I saw Don Quixote with music by Ludwig Minkus. Although the ticket was more expensive than I expected, I'd do it again. All seats were like being in the front row. Before the ballet started, we had 1/2 hour or more of scenes of Moscow. This was the Bolshoi Ballet, of course. During intermissions, we saw lobby shots and back stage shots. There was commentary before each segment of the dancing started, giving the story (not much of one), history of the ballet company, the composer, evolution of this production,and more. This may be normal for this type of show, but I'd never been to one before.

I found it interesting that the Bolshoi has apparently one of the few schools that teach character dancing. Don Quixote is an example. He really didn't dance, even Sancho Panza only danced a little. It was more acting in pantomime.

I've started a scarf from the Sausalito yarn from CPY. It's a drop stitch pattern and quite fun. The yarn is dark and the scarf is short, so no photos yet.

Then there is the next sock. I've adapted a Cookie A pattern from her first book. Because I have a limited amount of yarn, I'm doing it toe up. It may have a short leg. There was some back and forth knitting because the first toe was too wide. More back and forth while I decided what to do with the increases before the heel.

I have the yarn divided in half by weight and will proceed. I'm thinking of reversing the pattern for the second sock. I just need to start the pattern in the middle of the chart to make the waves mirror the first foot.

I had help when taking the picture of the finished sock. I don't often show her, because I don't take her picture. Here Bronte is, keeping watch on her world.

Odd Fellows

2011-03-09T09:02:00.004-05:00

The mitts are finished! The yarn colors do repeat, but it takes most of the ball before they do. The yarn is CPY Mini Mochi. I designed these, but need to tweak the pattern before publication. They have been wear tested on this morning's dog walk.

I worked on them at our library's knitting night last night and finished before bed. I was going to stay up if I had to, I was that close.

Tonight, I'm doing something different. Our local movie theater has a showing of the ballet Don Quixote. DH will be out with friends, so I'm going after work. Most of the special showings of things like opera occur when I'm working, but not this time.

Time to knit socks! I've had a break, now back to work.

Sock Progress

2011-03-06T13:23:00.007-05:00

One Fireworks Sock is finished. The embroidery took a long time, but they fit and look nice. My model foot is a little smaller than my real foot, and I'm keeping these! After all the trouble I went through, there's no way I'm gifting this pair. The next sock is started. No progress today, I got distracted!

Small project mode
I've been doing a lot of little projects this year, trying to use up single balls of yarn. Recently Crystal Palace Yarns sent me a ball of Mini Mochi as a prize for knitting the blue scarf with their yarn. The color is what they call a "lab dip", but it will go with my pink coat. I'm designing fingerless mitts. The mittens I finished recently are wonderful, but too warm for some days.

Later in the day
I have finished one mitt. I'm a little disappointed in the patterns I picked. This is going to be an odd pair of mitts anyway. The colors in the ball do not repeat, so the mitts will not match. I love the feel of the yarn, but it is splitty on #2 needles. A blunt point needle would work better, but that life with a single ply yarn. I did have less trouble with splitting when knitting the blue scarf on larger needles.

I wore my Suzanne Hanson Bohus wrist warmers to work today. My sleeves were a little short, so I covered them. For some reason, I felt like a poodle with those little fluff balls on their wrists and ankles. My wrists were nice and warm, however.

On the remodeling front, DD and son came over today to remove knotty pine paneling from our basement bathroom. It was water damaged and needed to come down so the wall can be repaired. I go to work, and the house gets torn apart before I come home. At least the debris is on the curb waiting for the trash men in the morning.

I can see clearly now

2011-03-03T07:59:00.004-05:00

I keep thinking, how did I get into that mess with this sock? The pattern is written well, being very specific on the parts I stumbled on. It says to inc. every 3rd rnd. It says to increase 14 times. It says that the wedge created should have 29 sts. Somehow, I didn't process this information.

Part of the problem was that I went to work on Monday with the sock, but not the pattern. I worked two repeats of the pattern and stopped. That was good! I think that when I stopped I had 29 sts on the sole of foot needle. At that point I misread the pattern and started the heel. The sock was too short!

Of course it was too short! I had 6 more sets of increases to do. A day and a half of Sturm and Drang and I'm back to following the instructions as written, and feeling stupid. I have a daughter who writes a quilting blog in story form with an alias. I wonder if I should have done that here, give myself an alias for when I do dumb things. Instead of Aunt Gertie I could become ????

The sole is now finished. It is the correct size. Wonderful things happen when you follow the instructions.

What was I thinking?

2011-03-01T19:41:00.007-05:00

or...If all else fails read/reread the instructions! It's a long story about a fairly easy pair of socks that had a disconnect between written instructions and knitter. Let me tell you about a couple of other things first.

My son is Ph inishe D. finally. Dissertation, defense and everything. It took him 8 years part time. He now has earned a PhD in Statistics. He's now working at Cleveland Clinic. WE don't know what he will do next. Take a break, breathe a sigh of relief, look around, spend time with his kids. He'll figure it out. He will be looking for a better job, but not just yet.

Some successful knitting is the CPY Panda Silk shawlette. The pattern called for 2 balls of this yarn. Perhaps a solid color has more yardage. I'm short one row of zigzags and a double layer hem. I finished mine with 4 rows of garter stitch. I actually like that finish better. I used an old china rose pin to fasten it. I like things to stay put while I work.

I'm sewing myself a new blouse, hiding in the background of the back view shawl. Every so often, I get to sew for me. I really don't need clothes, as I don't tire quickly of the ones I have, but new is nice. I have olive slacks and brown ones. the blouse still needs buttonholes and buttons, which is why it's still in my shop.

The patten is the cover feature of the last Piecework Magazine. It's an Anna Zilboorg design, and not really hard. How could I go wrong? Let me count the ways.

The cast on was fine. I used a crochet cast on instead of the long tail one she specified, because it's provisional. I started with one row of knit and then worked the short rows. This toe starts with 29 sts, short rows to 9 sts, then works back up to 27 live sts. I haven't worked a toe like this before, but I was familiar with it. All was good. Rearrange sts as specified on 4 needles and work until 5 1/2 inches less than desired length. That worked out to 2 repeats of the fan pattern, as shown in the picture. Still good, but here's where it starts to go wrong.

Arch increases begin on the sole; k6, yo front to back, k1, yo back to front, k6. Good. Twist the yos on the next rnd to avoid holes, good. (this is a really flat increase with no bumps on the sole of the foot when worked like this) Work 2 rnds. I read this as 3 rows total. Got to the heel much too soon.
Retreat! Work another repeat of the fan. Realize that the increases are a 4 row pattern.
Retreat! Work increases correctly starting after 3rd fan pattern. realize that k6 + 13 increased sts + k6 does not = the 29 sts I'm looking for.
Retreat back to 2nd fan pattern ( the measurement called for in the pattern). Work increases as the 4 row pattern called for. Triple check math and thought process. I will need 5 fans before the heel. There are 3 increases/fan pattern. I need 8 pairs of increases. (6 + 17 + 6 = 29 with a center stitch) The last increase is in the last fan pattern.

Wish me luck! I'm in the middle of the 4th fan and have increase to 13 sts.

OH NO!!!
I just read further and I was correct to begin with. Increase every 3 rows until you have 6 + 29 + 6. Head desk!!!

The week that was

2011-02-28T09:32:00.010-05:00

Early in the week we had freezing rain. UGH!! The next morning the sun shone brightly and all the trees looked like spun glass. Amazing!

I received a prize from a Ravelry group of a project bag. My DH calls these cows! The bag was made by Blue Tulips, who has an etsy shop.

Inside the bag is a shawlette from CPY Panda Silk DK yarn (another prize from a different group). I followed one of their patterns and ran out of yarn. The shawl is now finished and being blocked, so more photos of that later.

I finished the Tulip socks for DD the remodeler. It was a gray day. She is plugging along on her bathroom, taking showers elsewhere, like the "Y". Destruction has finished and she is beginning to build back. Luckily she has family and friends to help and advise.

Another baby hat was finished. This one of sock yarn. It will fit a larger baby.

I'm designing a shawl from this sock yarn. It should be a one skein project.

How do you eat an elephant?

2011-02-17T15:42:00.010-05:00

One bite at a time. Luckily I'm not the one with the elephant, dear remodeling daughter is! Her bathroom tile fell off the wall in her shower earlier this week. After further review, she will be re-tiling the whole bathroom, repairing old water damage using cement board instead of plywood among other things. This is the original problem.

She now has most of the materials and destruction has commenced. It now looks more like this. Luckily, she has some experience that she gained working on our house. Hopefully some of the men in her life can help her. It's not easy being a single mom homeowner, who is presently unemployed. I went on a Home Depot run with her today to get green board, cement board, and some other stuff. At least we can put things on top of my car.

At my house, the center hall is being worked on. Nothing exciting to show, just patch, sand and paint. Closets are being refilled, clothing is being culled before going back into the closets. Two of the rooms are waiting for warmer weather because the ceiling have damage from ice dams. Wall work will commence when that problem is fixed.

I'm working on a pair of socks for above daughter. Her Christmas socks shrunk in the dryer. I had used Jojoland Melody Superwash and didn't expect a problem. She gets the red socks that I was knitting because it's "fire" month in the Ravelry Solid Socks group. I had the yarn and a pattern that was in my queue for a while. I thought I would put them in the gift drawer, since I already have three pairs of solid red socks.

These are called Tulips by Stephanie van der Linden. I obviously need a better photo. The pattern is one of her earlier ones, and is basically just a chart with minimal instructions. I had seen the tulip pattern in one of my other books and had long term plans for making socks. The cast on picture may be clearer.

I'm working on a shawl from this yarn. I will offer the design to Plymouth Yarn when I am a little further along. They had requested a shawl and it has taken me a long time to get it together. I don't have much experience designing shawls and had trouble fitting the design into the triangular shape. This is a 100 gm ball of sock weight yarn.

Happy, happy

2011-02-13T08:10:00.009-05:00

The leftover biscotti socks are finished and on their way to the birthday recipient. Two more sock leftovers are completely used up.

This baby hat pattern showed up on my 2011 Knitting Calendar. I felt the itch to make one. The pattern doesn't show up on the variegated one, so I did it again. The pattern is leaves and the hat starts at the crown of the head and works down. These will go in my gift drawer for future use.

The purple scarf is finished and will also go in the gift drawer. It is knit in double brioche stitch and each side is a slightly different color.

Next up, a neck cozy. I had one skein of yarn that was calling to me, and went with my coat. I started at the top and worked down until I ran out of yarn. It's based on Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern in Knitting Around. It looks a little different now. I reknit it, so that there is less ribbing and more of a flap in front. It's bulky yarn and when worn folded over, was too thick. I don't need my hat down to my eyebrows. Another one evening project.

The blue Niagara socks were a huge hit with my hairdresser. She's not allergic to wool, (a concern) and they were just her color. I didn't think of the allergy problem until the middle of the second sock.

My new bathroom is another step closer to perfection. I finished the new rug. It is crocheted from almost 2 pounds of dishcloth cotton. One end is narrower because I ran out of the thicker yarn. It really isn't noticeable, except when it doesn't line up with the floor tiles. No more store bought rugs where the binding comes loose all too soon.

We're off to have breakfast with the kids, well one family of them. Later today will be a birthday bash for two grand kids.

We Have Heat

2011-02-02T15:37:00.006-05:00

It's been a struggle. First the gas valve needed replacing, then a couple of sensors. The boiler would run until it brought the house up to temperature, but wouldn't restart as it cooled down. The chimney man was able to clear the chimney from the inside. Now all we need is a new damper motor. What we have works, but not correctly. At least the boiler doesn't need tending anymore.

It was almost a much trouble as the old coal boiler we used to have. The house was built with both a coal boiler and a gas boiler. Gas pressure wasn't reliable in cold weather in the early 1920's. The system worked for about 80 years. The new one is more efficient and has more moving parts to fail.

I'm home from work today because of the ice left from the freezing rain. some melting has occurred, but that means there is water on the ice, making it more slippery. Schools are closed and I'm enjoying staying home.

Monday, yarn arrived for my blue scarf. I now have both tails the same length. I love Ravelry! A knitter in Michigan sent me yarn left over from a project of hers.

Another problem knitting project is my latest pair of socks. I'm knitting them with left over yarn and as I neared the top of the first sock, I realized that I didn't have enough white yarn. I've added lilac to the mix, but had to frog the first sock almost to the toe. The scoks are now being knit in tandem. No more ripping. The pattern is only on the op of the foot, with the soul in stockinette. I should have enough yarn now, and if not, I'll be looking for another color.

There is another jacket in my closet. I've not worn it yet, since I finished it yesterday and am not working today. The border fabric is closer in color to the body fabric than the photo shows. I've made the jacket twice before, so this may be the last time for this pattern. I have it in wool, "linen", and knit of dishcloth cotton. Next sewing project is a summer blouse.

I'll also make a couple of pairs of winter slacks after I refine my pattern. I had a pattern almost perfect and now it is hiding. I'm using another pattern and my most perfect pair of slacks and this time it will be put on file folders taped together for a more durable pattern. This will be hung up, so no more hiding!

Odd pictures

2011-01-27T16:50:00.006-05:00

I don't know where my photography is going. First I take a picture of a frowning face. The bath mat is a little cock-eyed.

Then I try to show you a yarny bathing suit. This will be another Rodekool scarf. The left hand yarn is Jojoland Melody and the right hand yarn is Aussi Sock. I figured that I should knit the second scarf while I still remembered the pattern and how to fix errors. It did take me four tries to get it cast on and started. Plan A was to use two ends of the same yarn. There was no contrast and it was hard to follow the pattern. Mistake fixing was next to impossible. This is not high contrast, but different enough for ease in working.

One purple/pink mitten is finished. The second was uncooperative this morning. Mitten #1 was started on #4/3.50 mm needles. Mitten #2 was started on #5/3.75 mm needles. I had switche4d to the larger needles for the hand of mitten #1. The fuzzy stripe was supposed to have pink sock yarn carried along with the eyelash, not pink worsted. I'll admit, I was in the car helping DH with errands this morning when these glitches happened.

I have the yarn for the blue sock. They look like this now. The goal of finishing by month end will be met. The LYS is selling out its stock of Pony Pearl needles. I picked up some dp needles in the scarf size that are 8" long. That should work better than the needles I had before. I get tired of the extra length of a circular needle for a small project, and 7" dps were just a little short.

Exercise for the day was a trip to Sam's Club. I haven't been for about 6 months and spent like a drunken sailor. An hour or so of pushing a cart that got increasingly heavy, loading everything in the car, unloading everything at home, finding homes for everything, much of it in the basement, made for one tired knitter. I need to go more often, so I'll buy less at a time. Next trip will be when we run low on pancake syrup. I didn't buy that today.

Next exercise session will be the emptying of three closets. Wall paper removal is scheduled for Wednesday. Domestic archeology will undoubtedly find much that can leave the house in the donation bag or the garbage. Out of sight, out of mind.

Knit, Knit, Rip, Rip

2011-01-26T09:01:00.007-05:00

The fish/scarf thing is Rodekool from Knitty.com. It is finished, but still a little short. More yarn is coming from Michigan. I love Ravelry! I get to make my scarf longer and someone else gets rid of a leftover.

I declared it done and wore it. Getting more yarn will mean that I have to take out the bind off in order to add on. The center section is fine the way it is.

The new mittens are growing. I frogged the hand because it was too tight. I went up one needle size and it's much better. I expect them to stretch with use. It's surprising how quickly bigger yarn works up. I did most of the hand at the library knitting group last night. It took 1 1/2 hours. The design is my own. I did a chart for the hand, based on some Slovak color patterns I saw.

The blue socks are growing. I will get more yarn tomorrow. The yarn went to New York City, but we got a call that a skein is now waiting for me.

I'm knitting a second Rodekool scarf from my original yarn. Instead of using two ends of the same ball, I found another ball of sock yarn to contrast and like it better. I only ripped that project three times.

I started another jacket at work today. It's a Marcy Tilton Vogue pattern that I have sewn before. I also knit a version last summer. The first version was linen. This version is wool.

The father/daughter remodeling team is working on halls now. Wallpaper was discovered in a couple of hall sections, so a steamer will be rented and bedroom closets and halls will be paper free.

Bits and Pieces

2011-01-23T21:33:00.012-05:00

The bathroom is completely finished, except for a radiator that needs paint. Sounds like a summer time job to me. We'll have to research heat resistant paint for it.

My velveteen jacket is finished. I also made a pair of pj pants for a two year old's birthday gift. Next up is another jacket for me.

The blue socks are progressing slowly. I used just over one skein of yarn for the first one, which means that I can't finish the second without more yarn. LYS says all of that line of yarn is in New York City this weekend. It will be back on Tuesday. I hope they don't sell all of my color.

This blue is not a fish, it's a scarf. The yarn is Mini-Mochi, which has very long color changes. The pattern calls for one ball, but I ran short. Do you see a tendency? I shortened the center section and should be in good shape. It's a technique called two-color brioche, and takes a lot more concentration that most of my projects. Now that I seem to have the pattern in my head, I may do another one.

A project that went well, was a vest for EB's birthday. I had plenty of yarn. The buttons came from my mother's stash. The pattern is from a book called Circular Knitting Redefined that I have a pattern published in. I have a birthday sweater for MB that I knit about 12 years ago for publication. It resurfaced just in time to fit him.

The black hole of knitting swallowed another dp needle this week. I saw where it fell, but it isn't there. It did spit up a sock needle 4 days later. Don't know when that one went in, but I'm glad to see it. I also have a knitting black hole at work. It ate a stitch marker recently, but that may have gone in the trash.

It's tax time for my business. Semi-annul sales tax is done and paid. Payroll taxes are in good shape, but I'm missing two forms. They have been ordered.

I'll finish the scarf tomorrow. I'm so close, but have about 3" to go. Then I can work on my new mittens. I finally trashed my purple mittens that match my hat and scarf. I got tired of mending them. I've had the replacement yarn since last spring. There was more mitten knit, but I ripped it out. It was a little small so I upped the needle size. I'm using fair isle, and making the mittens so that they can be worn on either hand to spread the wear.

Sunday I spent all day at a guild workshop on sweater fitting with Anne Hanson. My accountant's wife rode out with me. Made a long ride shorter. I learned a bit and got a lot of work done on a sweater that has been hibernating over the holidays.

We won't talk about the new classes I have to submit to Knitter's Fantasy, or the pattern waiting to be written.

Did you miss me?

2011-01-15T08:15:00.012-05:00

One reason is these socks.
They have 16 colors of yarn in them. The pattern is called Drip Candles and is one of those, where if you start working, you can't seem to stop. What will it look like after the next color. My sock yarn leftovers pile is smaller now. The socks are packed up to go to Illinois for someone's birthday.

All the mittens were well received. My son remembers Stop and Go mittens from his childhood.

I've been slowly working on this velveteen jacket. It's time to sew for me and my family, so I'm trying to use 1/2 hr. each day for this. Here's the jacket at day 6.

It's a simple jacket that I've made before, but I did a couple of things different because of the velveteen. I lined the sleeves, so it will go on easily.

I did a Hong Kong finish on the hems. I used bias tape from my stash, sewing it to the outside of the hem, pressing it flat, turning it under, and stitching the line between bias and velveteen. They look like this when hand stitched to the jacket. The pattern calls for top stitching, which worked well on the first one I made, but I didn't like it here.

Day 7 saw the yoke put together and the bound buttonhole made. The jacket is now finished. the yoke is lined with lining fabric and there is a black button. I'll get a photo today, I forgot the camera yesterday.

Next project is a pair of flannel p.j. pants for a 2 yr old.

My knitting needles are not idle, but again, few photos. I'm working on socks (no surprise there). They're a gift for my hairdresser. I forgot her at Christmas. I hope she can wear wool.

There also is the vest for 6 yr old granddaughter. I've no pictures of that at all.

We have wallpaper

2010-12-31T08:53:00.014-05:00

The remodeling continues. DD JC and I have been wallpapering the bathroom this week. It was renovated 5-6 years ago and left with unfinished wallboard. She has been mudding and sanding, then priming for a couple of weeks. She works 3 days a week most weeks and 4-5 hours a day on this job. This is the same daughter who helped finish the 3rd floor, where my yarn room resides. She and her son also smashed the old laundry tubs, so a new one could be installed.

Because the little wood shelf divides one wall, the bottom of the room has different paper. We still need to add a border below the line of the shelf and at the ceiling. It will be cut from the stripe paper. There is lots of paper cut to a reasonable length, since I managed to miscut one section twice, by starting the repeat at the wrong spot. The shelf section doesn't need a border, but the rest of the room does, so it will all be bordered. The ceiling almost escaped getting a border, but there is a 1/2" gap at one section, so a border there too.

Later in the day - we are finished with the wallpaper. We have borders top and bottom, cut from the stripe paper. Borders are much easier to do that sheets of paper. After lunch, and the Home Depot run for caulk. The tub surround will be recaulked.

I bought a new wastebasket and bowl brush because the fish set I have doesn't go with the new room. I probably will make the new shower curtain. I use a fabric liner, so that will serve until we get the new curtain. A wallpaper sample will go to the store with me for color matching. I also need to replace the rug, x2, so I can wash one. At least the towels go with the new colors.Towel rods go up later today. One was up, but got knocked down in the sanding/mudding stage. The room is not done, but it looks better every day. This was one of the rooms that had not been fixed up since we bought the house. The plumbing/fixture part was done because of leaks.

Knitting News
I finished the Legacy socks. I'm not sure if I will write the pattern. The leg looks baggy at the ankle. They will be a January birthday gift.

Another pair of socks is on the needles

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-bdm9OuTpF0/TR3hSoX7q_I/AAAAAAAACUs/1DVF3dvCqyY/s1600/Wallpaper%2B1.jpg"></a>The remodeling continues. DD JC and I have been wallpapering the bathroom this week. It was renovated 5-6 years ago and left with unfinished wallboard. She has been mudding and sanding, then priming for a couple of weeks. She works 3 days a week most weeks and 4-5 hours a day on this job.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-bdm9OuTpF0/TR3iFD9z6sI/AAAAAAAACU0/I8t541Jeq-M/s1600/Wallpaper%2B3.jpg"></a> This is the same daughter who helped finish the 3rd floor, where my yarn room resides. She and her son also smashed the old laundry tubs, so a new one could be installed.  Because of the little wood shelf, the bottom of the room has different paper. We still need to add a border below the line of the shelf and at the ceiling. It will be cut from the strip paper. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-bdm9OuTpF0/TR3jIfkuTRI/AAAAAAAACU8/XWy8NOflkI0/s1600/Wallpaper%2B2.jpg"></a>There is lots of paper cut to a reasonable length, since I managed to miscut one section twice, by starting the repeat at the wrong spot. The shelf section doesn't need a border, but the rest of the room does, so it will all be bordered. The ceiling almost escaped getting a border, but there is a 1/2" gap at one section, so border there too.

for a February birthday. The pattern is Drip Candles from the XRX book Think Outside the Sox. This is another leftovers pair. The pattern calls for 3 colors, but the prototype was done with 8. Colors are used 2 at a time, changing every 8 rows. It's a fair isle pattern with alternating stitches, no long floats, so not only is it easy to do, mistakes don't show.

Remember that stack of flannel? I have one more pair of pants to sew. They are cut out, so I have only about 1/2 hour of work left. Gift giving is Sunday. While my shop has been closed, I have continued the dry cleaner work. Every day I do the alterations and work on flannel pants. Total time in shop about 1 hour.

One pair of comfy pants was made and mailed before the photo. Two more pairs are going out today. Three pairs will be given on Sunday. It's been a relaxing holiday season with the gift part delayed so long. I've put in plenty of work on the house, so going back to the shop will be easier on the body.

Only one more thing on my vacation to do list, make Lasagna. It's one of DH's favorite dishes and hard to do when working. Of course, the left overs will go in the freezer with the stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage, and many soups.

We had an easy soup today, Gift in a Jar Potato Soup. I made a kit yesterday, filling the jar with instant mashed potatoes, powdered creamer and a few other things. Today I made 8 cups of boiling water and poured in the mix. Five minutes or less and it's ready to eat. I may have to use that as a gift again this year. We all have days when it's nice to have an instant meal on the shelf, or in the freezer in my case. Just remember to get it out in time for thawing.

My yarn room is still a mess

2010-12-25T12:21:00.008-05:00

I keep finding more yarn. I'm off work until Jan. 3, so I should be able to make more progress. This room is part of out third floor, which has been in an uproar for about 2 1/2 years. It's along story! I've cleaned up the table by the window with the swift and ball winder on it, but it doesn't show in the photo. Many of the plastic drawers have space, but everything needs an inventory card so I can find it again.

Much of the extra yarn was in the house, but not in the inventories before the remodeling mess. Everything was so hard to access that no inventory updating was done. The computer spread sheet was kept up to date, but not the index cards with the yarn snippets. The cardboard boxes hold cone yarn. I need to clear the floor, so I can bring in one more table and two more knitting machines. The table you can see will hold one machine, which is hiding in the dormer.

I still need to bring sock yarn upstairs, after I install the knitting machine on that wooden table. There are shelves in the dormer which will hold the sock yarn boxes. Sock yarn does not have inventory cards, but it has always been kept together in one area of the house. (maybe someday).

Here are my latest socks. They are my own design, to be made available soon. The impetus was a SKA challenge to use left over sock yarn. The base yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet left from 3 skeins I originally had. I made a pair of fair isle socks for the yarn company called Rows of Hearts. I had 60 gm left over, not enough for a pair of socks by itself. The blue is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Jeans color and the brown/gray is the same yarn in Mineshaft color.

I started with a Barbara Walker pattern from her second Treasury, called Paving Stones. (I just called that treasury the "sockend" one). I'm calling the pattern Legacy. It reminded me of engraved paving stones seen in many places. It's alsdo a legacy from socks past. This pair will be given as a January birthday present.

It's almost Christmas

2010-12-21T22:44:00.006-05:00

Luckily, I won't celebrate with family until a week later. Out of town presents are mailed, except for the one that the post office couldn't find to pick up. I've rescheduled and will call the post office early in the morning to complain.

The second pair of mittens is finished. No more Christmas knitting. I do have some sewing to do. Saturday was an 18th birthday party and I asked my DIL for gift ideas. She wants jammy pants. I had forgotten about that idea. Sunday saw me at the fabric store buying flannel for most of the rest of the giftees. Some young men are getting $$. This is the pile that I still need to sew up. One pair is finished and I should get a couple more done tomorrow. They take about 1 hour each.

I finished the Advent socks. they are knit from Knit Picks yarn. I'll see how they wear. They sure are soft and the yarn is not expensive. Even at noon, we don't have much sun these days. The detail shows if you embiggen the picture. The foot has decreases on the top and increases on the sole. the heel is very interesting too. I may make these socks again.

I finally started the December sock challenge. I chose the left overs option, designing my own socks. Unlike my previous left overs socks, these are very subtle. I should be able to finish the leg with the colors shown. I planned for the foot to be plain. These are for a January birthday, so I have plenty of time.

"Tis the knit before Christmas

2010-12-17T08:50:00.007-05:00

The Advent socks are almost finished. I caught up yesterday, just in time for the last clue. They looked like this at the end of clue #1. The yarn is stuffed inside the leg. I gave up on two at a time after the heel. There was decreasing on the top of the foot and increasing on the bottom and it was too much trouble to move stitches. I had enough circulars to use two for each sock. I have really enjoyed the Advent calendar connected with the socks. Today's video was a Muppet clip about the Ghost of Christmas present, in German and English. I don't think you can lip read Muppets, so it worked very well in both languages. The voice sounded the same, singing the song.

Part of Christmas will be mittens for grandkids. In the process of organizing the third floor, I found a pair of mittens that I had test knit. They are purple with a pink design, perfect for a 6 yr old girl. Her older brother will get these mittens. Younger brother will get mittens with snow men on them. I have 1 1/2 mittens knit, so I'll probably embroider the snowmen tomorrow. All the mittens are worsted weight wool, my favorite mitten fiber.

Tonight we're going to hear Apollo's Fire play Handel's Messiah. That's my birthday present for this year. We've heard them before, and they are one of my customers.

I feel so dumb!

2010-12-06T22:49:00.005-05:00

In the last post, I talked about a missing hank of yarn, that I had spent a good part of 2 weeks looking for. IT DOESN'T EXIST! Today, I checked my yarn inventory, and it isn't listed. It looked very much like the yarn I just finished knitting socks from, except it was a different brand. It doesn't exist in my house.

The socks look like this! This yarn is Hand Maiden Casbah Sock, knit mostly on US #1/2.5mm needles. The pattern is a mystery pattern by Lisa Stichweh.

The next socks are started, by Stephanie van der Linden. These are advent socks, with the pattern being available in pieces, only on the weekends. I'm trying to knit them two at a time, being one of the techniques that I have not tried yet.

Advent Week #1

2010-12-05T16:19:00.006-05:00

Well, I'm back at work, for better or worse. some days are really interesting, and some days I mostly baby sit the shop. I get more knitting done when babysitting. The wedding/cotillion dress is finished. I just had the hem to do. I did some pieces for a KISS tribute band that is redoing their costumes. I did a lot of boring hems. Saturday was a babysitting day. There were only 2 sales, resulting in me needing to sew on about 20 buttons.

The black socks are finished. I still need to do the pattern. The red mystery socks are almost finished. No new pictures at this point. Next up in the knitting queue are mittens for two of the smaller grandkids, and another mystery sock. Stephanie van der Linden had an Advent calender up on Ravelry. In addition to a u-tube video for each day, she started a mystery sock pattern on the first weekend of Advent. I had the perfect red yarn, which qualified under two categories in the Solid Socks group. It doesn't want to be those socks! It is hiding! I have been looking for about 2 weeks, and I cant find it. I got it out of storage, but didn't wind it into a ball. The socks will be knit from another red yarn.

Remodeling is moving slowly. Walls have been mudded and sanded again. The bathroom may be ready for priming. Today our son and one of his daughters came to plumb the new basement sink. Pipes for the washer were shortened. Pipes for the new faucet were shortened. It only took one trip to Home Depot for the new faucet with feed from the top. We have heat return pipes lower on the wall, seen just below the edge of the sink. Yes, the wall is still ugly. I've requested fixing and paint, but I'm not the one doing the work.

Time off from work

2010-11-28T21:14:00.002-05:00

Thursday was fairly lazy. Dinner with the family, but not at my house. DD#5 is in town for a few days. It's great to see her and her husband. Friday started at Home Depot to buy the sink for the basement. After lunch I put in a couple of hours doing dry cleaner alterations.

Saturday was really lazy, nothing but knitting. I did repair two socks that had come home from Florida. You know socks are appreciated when holes are worn in the bottom of the foot. He'll get more socks, even though he has the largest feet in the family. I did finish sock #1 of the black socks for DH. I need to figure out how to isolate the pattern repeat on my chart, then I can write the pattern.

Today started with breakfast at a nice Jewish restaurant with DD#5 and husband. One of many things Tallahassee doesn't seem to have. Repaired socks were returned.

Oxtail stew was started by putting the oxtail pieces in a pot with about 3 cups of water and into the oven to cook for about 4 hours. A large head of cabbage was put in my pasta pot to steam so I could remove leaves for stuffed cabbage. That worked very well. Food shopping was done. I was able to pick up a couple of large green peppers for a good price. I made enough oft he ground beef rice mixture to stuff 7 meals of stuffed cabbage and 3 meals of stuffed peppers. The oxtail stew leftovers (mixed with noodles) yielded 2 more meals. With all the different soups I've made for the work crew, I'm stocking the freezer much faster than I'm using the meals.

Keep knitting on black sock #2. Back to work tomorrow.

They're Tearing the House Apart Again!

2010-11-26T21:17:00.013-05:00

A pile of rubble, the work of Runner Girl and her strong son Ninja. The day started with 3 laundry tubs in bad condition, left over from the days of wringer washers. 90 years later, they were in bad shape. The tub nearest the washer was cracked and the drain was deteriorated.

Early in the day we went out and bought a new sink. Then the demolition commenced. There's nothing like calling in your kids and grandkids when you want something destroyed. They had a great time! Sledge hammers and a Sawz-All did the job. I made many trips up and down stairs getting enough boxes for the rubble, which was carted out to our front porch to await garbage day. They did a good job of cleaning up!

This is what it looks like tonight. The sink is in place and the washer moved to what is probably it final position. Our son will come soon to help with the plumbing. I think DH wants to move the pipes lower. The wall needs work. Shelves will be built. The gas line needs to be moved to put the dryer on the other side of the sink. We had a dryer vent installed when the glass block windows went in.

My shop was closed today, giving me time to shop for the sink. I also made a German Potato soup for lunch, potatos, carrots, cabbage and 1 # of bacon. Seasoning is pepper, caraway seed and nutmeg, with sour cream added added with the bacon at the end. I have made so many varieties of soup to feed the work crew, that I'm definitely running out of room in the freezer. I put the soup in the Crock Pot before I leave for work, and it's ready when they are. Also, it feeds whoever shows up, especially when they are young men with large appetites.

Sewing
Last post, I said something about wrestling with a wedding dress. It looks something like this, a small part is under the presser foot and the rest is all over the place.

One of the other jobs I do is to replace elastic in pants. This pair has had the elastic removed. I will edge the top, sew in new elastic, fold it to the inside and top stitch about 1" from the fold.

Knitting Progress
I finally finished the fair isle socks for DH. Seven weeks is a long time for a sock project, although I did finish other socks in that time.

I have one sock finished from the SKA November Mystery Sock pattern. I'm trying to finish the black cable socks first.

I am getting a little tired of knitting almost nothing but socks. This next year I hope to spend more time on other projects, but the new sock patterns are so tempting. I just found an Advent Calendar mystery sock. The pattern clues are available each weekend, for 3 days only for each clue. Yes, I downloaded the first clue.

I hab a cold...

2010-11-21T16:43:00.004-05:00

and my brain is working slowly. Drugs only help so much. Some weeks my work load is light and I can knit at work. This was not one of those weeks! It's good to have work to do, but I'd rather knit than wrestle with a poufy wedding dress to alter the bust , shorten the straps, and redo the hem.

The weather today was beautiful, but I had no energy to work in the yard. I'm hoping that its mild over the holiday weekend, so I can finish pulling out dead stuff. Dinner is not at my house, and I'm not working. I need to deal with more boxes in the remodeled area. Garbage day is early Tuesday morning. I am trying to get one extra bag out of the house each week. Stuff breeds when you ignore it.

The mystery sock #1 is finished through clue #3. The next clue will be out by tomorrow morning.

The fancy sock for DH is 85% finished. It's still a love/hate relationship. I'll soon be finished. I like the yarn, Verve dyed by the Unique Sheep. I should actually have enough yarn to finish the socks without changing yarn. Only another day or so. These started as a SKA under-appreciated challenge, but didn't qualify. It was a club pattern, not released to the public by the deadline.

In the meantime, I have started a cabled sock for DH. The theme for the Ravelry Solid Socks group is "air" and the SKA theme is cables. These socks fit both themes. The color looks like night air, and there are cables. I need to finish them by Nov. 30 if I'm in the running for Solid Socks prizes. That may not happen. For SKA, I have until Dec. 31. There are over 10,000 knitters in that group, and I've already won a prize this year. I still like a challenge.

BTW, Ravelry has over 1,000,000,000 knitters registered, and most of them have only registered once. A certain daughter of mine forgot her name and password, so registered again. I'm sure she's not the only one. They won an award in London for being the best social network, beating out Twitter and Facebook.

Love/Hate Relationship

2010-11-11T12:49:00.005-05:00

That's how I've been feeling about the socks I'm knitting for DH. It started as a Ram Club selection from last year, a fair isle pattern and two colors of variegated yarn, a dark color and a light color.

The socks were started for SKA on Ravelry, with the idea that they fit in the under-appreciated category. Because the pattern was not released tot he public before July 1, they didn't qualify. Oh well, knit them anyway. They're toe up and when the heel was started I tried them on the target foot. Too tight! And too short! Riiip.

Back to the toe to increase up to the next size. I matched the gauge in the pattern, but the larger sizes were too wide. The error came in lack of stretch in fair isle knitting. The socks are now size S in width and size XL in length.

There have been doubts about how the pattern shows up. I would have been happier with one solid yarn and one variegated. There also have been concerns about having enough yarn. This package did have more yarn than the other two from the club. I measured around each ball. The light color was larger, so I used that to finish the cuff. When I was home and had access to the kitchen scale, I weighed each ball. They each started with 75 gm of yarn. The light had 46 gm and the dark had 44 gm after one sock. Cheers were heard!!! There is enough yarn for the second sock, and yes, this sock has been tried on when the heel was started, and it fits nicely. I think I mentioned this in the last post, but it bears repeating for these socks.

The mystery sock is finished through clue #2. Time to start a cabled sock for DH. It's cable month at SKA. I wanted to finish one sock before starting more for him.

Progress??

2010-11-07T18:54:00.006-05:00

Everything has been moved off the first floor. After over 2 years, I have my living room and dining room back. DD even cleaned them for me. Strange things happen when I am at work. This pile is what's left to organize/put away/throw out. I'll tackle the Christmas storage when the season comes.

I have too much yarn. When it's all in one room, it is a little overwhelming. I also have fabric storage in that room. I'll be purging that slowly.

I have been using some of it. These mitts are a birthday gift. I have the pattern written, It is available on Ravelry and Patternfish. The yarn is Regia 6-ply sock yarn, so they're machine washable. I also have knit another family Christmas stocking, It's #28 in the ongoing series.

Right now, I'm working on some fair isle socks for DH. They're toe up and when I was half way through the heel I tried them on him. They were too tight and too short. We are now past that point and the fit is good. Combining fair isle and large feet does not make for fast sock knitting.

There is also a mystery sock on the needles. Clue #1 is finished for the first sock. Clue #2 comes out tomorrow.

Now to move in

2010-11-03T09:09:00.007-04:00

The remodeling is finished on my third floor. DD Jan nicely took pictures for the rooms empty of tools and before boxes and shelves moved in. Now I have to arrange everything and purge what I can. She blogged about it here. This part of the house must be storage as well as working space. It's the storage part that still has me scared. What can I get rid of????

This is the most finished view I have of the bedroom. Tuesday morning it looked like this! On one side are boxes of cone yarn, on the other, drawers of skein yarn. The tables have been moved around. The white one will hold my swift, ball winder and who knows what else. The one in back is for one of my knitting machines. Right now it has battered boxes of fabric, which need to be reboxed.

The main room is more empty now! But those empty shelves will be put to use. How do we get all this stuff? Why do we hold on to it? Don't answer! We get it slowly and put it aside because we might need it. Right now it weighs me down! I have already purged a lot of yarn and many boxes of fabric went to the fashion department at a local college.

Best solution for the moment, go to work and deal with some of it tomorrow, when I have a day off.

Stocking Surgery

2010-11-02T22:46:00.008-04:00

Over the years, I have knit Christmas stockings for a few customers. "Grandma knit this, can you copy it?" Some of them were old Bernat patterns. I don't know the original source of this year's batch.

The customer now lives in N. Carolina, so she sent me a box of stockings. Two of them needed the name changed. Original people no longer in the family. These are stockings knit by me in the past, so I had matching yarn left in my stash from a house sale.

Separate stocking into 2 parts, ravel back, knit new name, graft back to stocking. Fair Isle is easier to ravel than intarsia.

A new stocking was also needed this year. I had designed this a few years ago, a couple of changes were requested for this year. It looks like this. The top is knit flat on 2 needles, and then continued in the round. When flat, it looks like this.

The stockings are back in the box. I just need to send it back to its owner. Yes, I did get paid for this!

I've knit a couple of other things, but they are gifts and the donee may be reading this blog. Here's a Christmas gift. I'm not sure who it will go to. It was a mystery sock, meaning that I got a clue a week and didn't know what the sock would look like until the end.

Too Little Time...

2010-10-24T22:53:00.005-04:00

And too much to do. The green socks are finished. They are for a December birthday. The Mystery socks are stalled. There still are 2 Christmas stockings to be knit. I realized that there is a family birthday on Tuesday 10/26 and I had no gift. Although I won't see her until later, I should be finished by then.

The pattern is being written. There was great frustration with the chart making program I've been using for ages. I have a couple of other options, but they either wouldn't handle a 6 stitch cable or mis-behaved in other ways. Credit card was pulled out and a new program was purchased. I've been thinking about this one for quite a while and finally caved. It makes nice charts and automatically has the legend for the symbols. There are a couple of things I don't like about the printed images, but I think that's part of the learning curve.

The remodelers have finished one room and boxes of cone yarn are being moved in. I'm not in a hurry for the other 2 rooms, as long as progress continues.

Knit, knit, knit, frog, frog, knit

2010-10-17T11:21:00.010-04:00

Remodeling is almost finished. The bathroom is back together and everything works! At one time it looked like this. The tub is full of insulation. The medicine cabinet has a hole in the back.

Insulation was applied to the walls, and drywall replaced plaster. The contractor left and DH was to finish the job. They did replace the toilet before they left.

Dry wall in progress. The yellow part is the chimney. I don't seem to have a more current picture of that room, but it has the same blue walls and tile floor as the rest.

Last week the bath looked like this. The plumber disassembled everything and replaced the drum trap in the floor. I may have said that we had to replace some floor boards because of old damage and this was the time to replace the trap and put new floor over all. It also let us (DD doing the work) tile under the tub. It's all together now. Baseboards are in. It just needs 1/4 round pieces at the bottom of the baseboards.

You may notice the faucets changed on the tub. During reinstallation, the overflow piece was replaced and the new faucets on the tub didn't fit any more. Does anyone want a new faucet set with 7" centers?

We tiled the whole floor and the stairs with the same tile. I'll get more pictures as we move back in.

Back to the knitting

The white socks took 2nd place in the accessories category of the guild competition. My friend Ginny wore her socks (from the same mystery pattern) to the meeting and entered something else. My other 2 entries did not win prizes. I expected this as my best designs live elsewhere.

The fairisle socks for DH have been frogged and reknitting commenced. They were a little tight and a lot short, so I went up one size and am making a longer length. Toe up socks are hard when you don't know how much length the gusset and heel take. I still like how they are working up.

Yesterday was a 3 heel day. Two mystery socks are finished through clue 3 and the 2nd green sock reached the same spot. The sock blockers stand up nicely with their toes in the dirt. I'm anxious to finish the green socks because I have Christmas stockings to knit and remodel. More on that when I start the work.

Guess what, more socks

2010-10-10T18:04:00.007-04:00

The white socks were finished on Sept. 30. They will be entered in our knitting guild competition tomorrow.

Last weekend I attended an all day workshop taught by Melissa Leapman. The morning was devoted to edges, from fairly basic hems to fringes knit in one piece with the garment. In the afternoon, we learned about circular cables.

The remodeling continues. A plumber is coming tomorrow to fix a leak in the bathroom and replace the drum trap with an "S" trap. The floor boards need replacing in that area, so the tub will be moved to do the job. We'll need new supply pipes and drain fixed so that the tub will be usable with the luan and tile under it (added thickness). The trap was going to stay, but it will be under the new floor. All it takes is more money.

October sock knitting

Mystery Sock by Kirsten Kapur in Jojoland Melody may not be finished this month. The last clue comes out on Oct. 29. WE have 2 clues, and I have lengthened the leg by one repeat to a more comfortable length. These will likely be a gift.

Green socks for Ravelry Solid Socks and SKA under appreciated pattern, These are from a vintage pattern, knit in Knit Picks Essentials yarn. They will go to a grandson with a December birthday.

The last pair of Ram Club Socks for DH. I may actually have enough yarn. I using the numbers for the smallest size, and they fit his large feet. I'm using the medium length. Oddly enough, my gauge matches the pattern before blocking. These were supposed to be for the SKA group, but the pattern wasn't available to the public by July 1.

We saw quilting daughter for dinner last night at her favorite local restaurant chain. She flew in from Florida to spend some time with her DH, who is in NE Ohio with his truck full of motorcycles. He's off to Delaware in a few days and she'll be going home. We probably won't see her again this trip.

Once Upon a Time...

2010-09-30T15:27:00.009-04:00

DH decided to remodel/insulate the third floor of our house. Actually he paid for it to be done. All plaster was removed, the walls and ceilings were insulated, new windows installed, plasterboard put up and DH was going to finish the job. View 1 shows step #1 of the reconstruction. There are no windows in the far wall yet.

Step #2 shows plaster board and a new window, looking from the doorway with the blue door.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years, with all the items previously stored on this floor, still in our living room and dining room. One daughter lost her job. She has 2 young adult sons. They were hired to help finish the job. Air force Grandson is now in Germany, but Mom and other grandson have been working. The walls, ceiling, and woodwork have been painted in both rooms. Lauan sub floor has been laid in both rooms, and one room is tiled, including the dormer and closet. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

A plumber came this week to put a new faucet on the bath tub and add shut offs to the pipes. I'll show photos when more happens in that room.

On the sock knitting front there also was progress. I finished the socks for DH, using contrast yarn for the toes. It takes a lot of yarn to cover his feet. The pattern is called Train to Brighton by Janine Le Cras. I tried to enter them in the Ravelry Solid socks group, but the yarn striped, so they don't qualify. The yarn is Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, a lovely yarn.

The black socks are also finished. They will be a birthday present later this fall. Cookie A designed these for her mother in law and they are called Glynis in her Sock Innovations book. Much as I like black socks, they are a pain to knit without good lighting. The Ravelry SKA group challenge was to knit with black or white or both, no gray.

The white socks are almost finished. Maybe later tonight. They are the Mystery Sock for this month, designed by Adreinne Fong.

The weather is changing

2010-09-16T13:46:00.011-04:00

The air is crisper. The days are shorter. I'm in the mood for more cooking of big pots of food.

DD Jan and her young men have been working at our house finishing up a remodeling job. She's out of work at the moment, her younger son is home from the Air force, and her older son is about to go into the Army, so there is lots of young strong muscle available. It is useful to make a large pot of something for lunch; chili, beef stew, or whatever can go in a crock pot.

Today, I was looking through the patternworks catalog and was surprised to see three of my designs on p. 60. They are socks that I designed for Plymouth Yarn Co. Happy Feet yarn. The patterns available for download are: Church Windows, Heart Socks, and Diamond Socks.

Of course I have more socks on the needles. The SKA group theme this month is black, or white, or black and white. I have black socks for a granddaughter with an October birthday. They're knit using a Cookie A. pattern called Glynis. The black yarn takes good light for working patterns. I've been doing a lot of the knitting at my shop. Business has been slow and the light is good.

There is a monthly Mystery Sock designed by Adrienne Fong. Like her previous mystery, this one is beaded, but the beads don't show up in the photo.

If that's not enough, there is the birthday sock for DH. I joined the Ram Club last year and received three sock kits. This is one of them, but I'm using different yarn, hoping to knit the toes in the same color. Sock #1 is on stitch holders until the yarn quantity is determined to be enough. It makes the sock look funny.

My gray sweater is growing slowly, ignoring it and working on small needles with thin yarn does not make for fast progress. The baby sweater will be finished in a few days. It has been reserved for intense TV watching, where more pattern knitting is distracting.

September Knitting

2010-09-06T13:59:00.017-04:00

It's Labor Day here in NE Ohio, and I'm being lazy. That implies that much knitting is happening, as well as some TV watching. There will be a cookout with family later.

Much knitting has been finished recently. Small projects get done quickly. There were the Fiesta Feet. I doubted my sanity at times during the knitting, but soldiered on and they're done. Both yarns are Kroy 4 ply sock yarn. They were originally designed with a light colored solid. I had some, but used it for some other socks and couldn't find a comparable substitute.

The leftover from these socks went to DGD Ana for her birthday. There was just over 1 ball of the paintbox color. All but 1 yd went into the socks. No leftovers to worry about there. I used a pattern from a book by Janel Laidman, called the Eclectic Sole. We collect books and patterns and don't use them, especially if you're a designer. This year I'm trying to use some of what is on my shelves.

The tomato hat will be mailed with a hat for big sister Rayven. The base hat is a fruit hat, like the tomato, but I put a rose on top from Nicky Epstein's Embellishment book.

I loved the yarn from the Swiss Cheese Scarf and had a lot leftover. A sweater for me is on the needles. It will have short sleeves and is lacy, which doesn't show here. If I can't finish it in the grey tweed, I have a few choices of matching yarn. Green is my first choice, possibly a lace edging and crochet edge on the neck.

A simple project, now that the hats are done, is a baby sweater for the gift drawer. All the girly sweaters were used up this spring. This is a simple one-piece kimono from dish cloth cotton, left over from my jacket. The pattern is in Mason-Dixon Knitting, which calls for this yarn.

Of course, there are socks! There is the Ravelry SKA Mystery Sock; clue #1, sock #1.

The Ravelry Solid Sock group has chosen brown for this month. I have a Ram Club pattern from last year that is for DH. Yarn substitution was required, because the given yarn didn't have enough yardage. Hopefully this Hazel Knits sock yarn will cover both toes without additions from the scrap drawer. I love the depth of the color and the pattern really pops.

The SKA group also has a color of the month for September. It is white, or black, or black/white. A pair of socks for DGD Luci has been started in black. I'm using a Cookie A pattern from her Sock Innovations book.

Last Wednesday i judged needlework at another fair. This time it was Geauga County, the oldest fair in the state. The building I worked in was rebuilt in 1899 after a fire. Lots of good entries. It's harder to choose the best, but I feel better about it. There were only a few items int he wrong class. Sometimes people don't read, and sometimes they may mix up the tags on entry day.

Tomatoes of various types

2010-08-17T20:27:00.013-04:00

Tomato Hat

DGD Kat is having another baby in Sept. The sweater I knit for the first one is gender neutral, so I decided to make fruit hats for both kids. The new guy is getting a tomato hat. I bought the pattern on the shop hop last week and came home to find another copy. DD #1 knits and now has a fruit hat pattern. I thought the pattern I had was the flower hat, but can't find that one. Do I need to repurchase to find where it is hiding?

Everyone has red tomatoes in their garden except me! The area where my plants are planted used to be sunny, but when I wasn't looking, trees grew up and the neighbor installed a wooden fence in a corner which also shades the plants. Score on 2 plants; 4 tomatoes on one of them.

I only planted tomatoes and peppers this year, and the pepper section of the garden is doing well. Something ate most of the leaves from the pepper plants early on, but I moved them to our back porch. We have lots of peppers of various sizes and colors. Next year I'll try a couple of other things in addition to tomatoes and peppers. Cutting back a little on work commitments means more time for other pursuits.

Quilter daughter is in town this week. We had dinner with her Wednesday night at her favorite restaurant. Nice long talk about what she's doing and how the new house moving is coming along. She moved July 4th weekend and is mostly unpacked now. Leaving Saturday to be home in Florida on Sunday.

Red sweater

Last March, I knit a sweater for the Cast On Anniversary issue. It is now out and available to the public. I think TKGA picked a model too large for the sweater. My photo shows how I expected it to fit.
The yarn is Classic Elite Classic Silk, a very nice yarn, but TKGA wanted a machine knit pattern and this yarn doesn't work on the machine. I used a more machine friendly yarn for that, and the pattern is on their website. This sweater was knit by hand. It went quickly , especially with no cable needle. The pattern is a four stitch cable, but big enough in gauge to just drop stitches and pick them up again.

My Lucy Neatby Fiesta Feet 2nd sock is mid foot, so it'll be finished by the end of the month to count for the Ravelry SKA challenge for July. Not that I have much chance of winning a prize, but I do like to meet the deadline.

Knit, knit, finish

2010-08-15T12:27:00.010-04:00

One of the side effects of working on many projects is that they may all get finished at about the same time.

Sunday - cotton jacket
Tuesday - Mystery Socks
Thursday - Swiss Cheese Scarf
Saturday - Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf
Monday - fingerless mitts
Thursday - mitt covers

That's it for now. Work has been slow, and I'm the boss, so I've had more knitting time at work.

The Mystery socks were stash busters., using little balls of left overs. The swiss cheese scarf is cone yarn from a mill. I like it so much that I have started a sweater from the rest of the yarn. It is top down. all available yarn will be used and there are so many colors ot tweedy bits in it, that I can choose another color for finishing if needed.

Last Saturday was a guild yarn shop hop. We went to Columbus, OH, about 3 hrs south of us. We did have to meet up at 6:15 AM. I didn't drive, so was able to knit.I chose a simple scarf that had been sitting for over 6 months. It is the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, knit from 2 balls of Noro Matsuri that I received as a holiday gift. On the trip, needles, sock yarn, a pattern, and a sock yarn needle gauge were purchased. Much fun was had.

One of my daughters had taken up running for exercise. She asked for fingerless mitts with thumbs. The yarn I chose is partly purple, her color, but it is also cotton stretch. (Patons Stretch socks). I decided to make mitt covers using Wool-Ease. If she runs when it is colder outside, she can use something else. All pieces were adapted from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns

Today is family day picnic gathering. DD #1 is in town from Florida. I gave her a book on historic American quilts, since that is her main hobby. She loved it.

Present sock on the needles is Lucy Neatby's Fiesta Feet, knit from Patons Kroy 4 ply sock yarn. Plan A was to use muslin as the solid, but it was knit into something else and is not available. Norfolk blue was substituted. Kroy is heavier/denser that many sock yarns, so I stuck with the same brand. Boy is this a lot of work! I made the leg longer, because I like winter socks to meet my long underwear. Nothing worse than a gap for the cold air to find. I've waited years to knit these. When I finally got to it, I couldn't find the pattern and had to buy a new copy. That wasn't so bad, as the first one was a copy a friend gave me. From her complaints, I thought she was sending me her original. When I used the muslin yarn, it was still available for repurchase. Oh Well. First sock is finished. Keep knitting!

Quick cast on - a fruit hat for grandson to be born in Sept. Stash yarn says he gets an apple. I bought a fruit phat pattern on the shop hop, thinking I only had the flower hat pattern. WRONG! I can't find a flower hat pattern, but already had the fruit hat. DD #1 was happy to take one of them off my hands. I should finish the hat tonight, started about 4:00 this afternoon. It was easy knitting at the party, round and round and round.

It's finally finished

2010-08-01T21:33:00.004-04:00

I've been working on this jacket, off and on, for over a year. That's a long time for one of my projects! I accepted a challenge involving unfinished projects, figuring that it could be finished by September. Eek, the deadline is August 5. Knit faster, knit faster. Make mistakes, re-knit. Find that sleeves are too long. take out and shorten. Sleeve cuffs want to unroll. Remover and attach differently. Knit some more. Finish bottom band. Go to sew it to jacket bottom. Undo bind off and lengthen bottom band. Knit front bands, re-knitting the mitered corners several times.

Finally, success. It may look better buttoned. It may hang differently after washing/drying. But it's done.

One of the yarns has been in stash for maybe 20 years. It's good to finally find a good use for it.

Weekends have been busy. Last week there was a graduation party for a granddaughter.Today I saw her again and she finally has a full-time job.

This week our knitting guild picnic was held. That's always a good time. One of the members has a house with a large amount of land and a swimming pool. It was a little chilly for swimming, but the knitting, talking and eating went well.

My small garden is doing fairly well. I haven't had one for years, and started small; 2 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, and some basil. The pepper plants had their leaves eaten, so I moved them to a window box on our porch. Survival was iffy, so I bought more pepper plants. All have had flowers. I'm waiting for peppers. One green tomato so far. Basil has been pulled and is drying. Next year I'll do more variety. There are only 2 of us and the cook still has a job, so I didn't want to overwhelm myself.

Moving along

2010-07-22T16:55:00.012-04:00

Mystery Sock
I seem to have missed posting about the SKA Mystery sock challenge for this month. It is a Chrissy Gardiner pattern, which at the moment is called Progressive Sock Party. The name may change now that all the clues are out.

This is how clue #1 looked with all the yarn. Most of it is left overs from other sock projects. Clue #4 came out this morning. Since this month the clues come out on my day off work, I can get right on them. One sock finished!

Cotton Jacket
Another knitting blog started a dog days of summer challenge to finish unfinished projects. This jacket was started over a year ago. That may not be long for some knitters, but it is one of the few works in progress for me. I'm doing lace now. We have a collar and one sleeve cuff. I may need to shorten the sleeves, but I'm going to wash and dry it first. It still needs the other sleeve cuff, bottom band and front bands. It won't be done by the August 5 deadline, but I can wear it when the weather changes.

Baseball All-Star
A certain grandson is a 7 yr old all-star in his 7 & 8 yr old baseball league. Grandpa and I watched his game. They play 5 innings with the coach pitching and the kids doing all the fielding. MB got a hit!

Birthday
His younger brother is 3 and had a birthday party last Sunday. PJ pants have been a big hit as gifts, so I made him a pair with trucks on them. He put them right on. I guess I'll have to keep sewing pj pants. I have a Butterick pattern in all sizes.

Guild scarf project
The goal is to have the scarf finished by the August meeting, August 9. The pattern is called Swiss Cheese Scarf. I decided how long I want it, trying to allow for stretching, and marked the middle. Now all I have to do is count the side bumps. When I get close, I'll try it on. Current figuring has it 65% complete.

Fiesta Feet
Lucy Neatby wrote this complex pattern a few years ago, and I put it on my wish list and in my cache on Ravelry. One of the options for Ravelry's SKA group this month was stranded color work. The time had come. The thinking was to work on these4 socks while waiting for mystery clues. Reality said that I had a few other things to work on, but I've made some progress. The deadline for prizes for both pairs of socks is August 31. My chances of winning are slim, but I should finish both in time.

Misc. Catching Up

2010-07-11T21:31:00.006-04:00

July 5 was family day. The gang gathered at our son's house for the holiday. There were fewer than last year, but we got everyone who was available. We have more family out of town now, and there was a death in the last year.

Tuesday morning my employee showed up for work. Unexpected, but she helped me catch up on the backlog. She usually works on an as needed basis and has only been working a couple of days a month recently. I actually had a little time to sew for the family. I need to do some more of that this week, We have two more birthdays to celebrate and another party to attend. Flannel pj pants have been a big hit, and the flannel stash is being used up.

The knitting project list had 7 projects on it. The orange socks are now finished. The pattern is a vintage one from 1944. It was designed for a man, but I downsized it. Yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Arizona knit with US #1/2.25mm needles. The color goes with a lot of my clothes.
Only 6 projects left to knit, 3 of them are pairs of socks!

Happy Holiday

2010-07-04T15:00:00.011-04:00

I've been working too hard. I have one employee, and she has been ill, so I have to do everything myself. Good news/bad news I had a lot of work come in for delivery in early July. Today is the 4th and I'm NOT working.

Thursday was yard day. I had pulled out some Tiger Lilies and wanted to fill in the space. We now have another iris and some cone flowers. Our son wants Tiger Lilies when more get pulled out. We just have too many! Variety is the spice of life and I'm slowly getting some in our yard.

This jacket was started last summer. It's 3 color seed stitch from dishcloth cotton. It will have lace borders. The pattern is adapted from a Vogue sewing pattern. The variegated yarn was bought about 20 years ago. Finally most of it is gone. The rest will become part of a baby sweater.

The orange socks are nearing completion. Translating the pattern from 1944 has proved interesting. It's a fairly simple pattern with cabled "clocks" down each side of the leg. The cable pattern was written out; Rnd 1, rnd 2, rnd 3, rnd 4 like rnd 2, rnd 5 like rnd 1... for 12 rounds. I charted it so that I could see how many rounds between cable crossings. There are no ssk decreases, but the gusset does have skp decreases, so the same thing essentially. The heel flap is short for all sizes. Did I say that the pattern was for men? I downsized it, shortening the ribbing from 5" to 1 1/2". I needed to do more cables that written to make them the length I like. The toes are a typical wedge toe, but all decreases are k2tog. The yarn is from Lana Grossa.

When I went to TNNA in Columbus, OH, I made contact with Cascade Yarn Co. They want me to design a shawl and sent me some yarn. They have a new sport yarn coming out and was the shawl from sport weight.

First I have to finish some socks for Plymouth. They also want a shawl. More stealth knitting for money.

Our knitting guild has a Knit Along of a scarf. The chosen pattern is a free one called the Swiss Cheese Scarf. Mine looks like this, but now it is twice as long. The pattern consists of garter stitch and buttonholes, lots of buttonholes. I'm using cone yarn. which has a gray base and the second ply has lots of other colors.

Today is the first day of summer

2010-06-21T08:43:00.010-04:00

It's summer, and all the baby knitting is finished for now. I will need to knit another girl sweater for the future, but not yet. This one is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten Jacket. I used a cotton cone yarn as the base yarn and a number of odd balls to carry along. There is fuzz, there is glitz! All the yarn I used is gone from my stash. It really feels good to use the odd balls!

Some Sewing
I recently made a wedding dress for a client from beaded lace. A simple dress that came out nicely, copied from another dress she brought me. It has a very low back. I did not make the train,it came with the original dress but I had to find a good way to attach it.

She had a wedding dress made when she first got engaged. She didn't really like the dress. She didn't pick the fabric herself, and I'm not sure about the fit. The original dress was beaded all over, and the train was attached with hooks and thread eyes. The thread eyes had broken without the dress being worn. A bad choice, as there is too much danger of catching the beads with the hooks. I removed the hooks and attached two large tabs. "Whopper poppers" were sewn to the tabs and the inside back of the dress. Simple, effective, and strong.

I'm Back!

2010-06-11T21:05:00.018-04:00

In addition to life getting in the way, my computer had a nervous breakdown. It was only 1 1/2 years old, but it appears that the mother board went crazy. We'd been having trouble getting online after rebooting. Then the keyboard started recording gibberish, I lost my sound, the computer started shutting down on its own. Two days later and much work by my live-in computer expert and things are much better.

Landscaping
The front yard looks good and will look better when plants mature.
The bushes on the upper level are blooming. Intersector Socks in progress recline by the Wintercreeper bush. This bush will top out at 2 feet high. These socks are now finished, in spite of pattern problems.

The orange socks are from a Vintage pattern, copyright 1944. SKA has a vintage sock challenge this month. I'm ready for something easy after the "bark" socks. Cabled clocks translated from an old pattern still makes for easy knitting. The flowers are Stella D"Oro day lilies.

Baby knitting
Girls are popular this year! Two neighbors had girls recently. I had two girl sweaters put aside, but I need one more, and I need to finish it in time to give before July 1, when the mother leaves town. The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten Jacket, using cone yarn and a selection of odd balls. I'm using pattern instructions from both Knitting Without Tears and Knitting Workshop. Knitting Workshop has great instructions and a diagram for grafting garter stitch. Find the join. Time to knit sleeves.

Current secret project is some socks for South West Trading Company in their new solid TOFUtsies. The flowers are part of my "Little Henry" Sweetspire bush.

Illusion Knitting
I tried illusion design again, following instructions by Woolly Thoughts. The idea was to start simple, and maybe it could be a class sample. It worked! Something like this could also be a scarf.

Sewing business has been crazy. Prom dress alterations are finished, but bridesmaid dresses and wedding dresses are still rolling in and out.

I made a dress for a customer's daughter, who designed the dress. Here's the sketch. The proportions changed from sketch to dress, but the eighth grade designer is happy. The photo sure shows the tilt of the dress form. Many years ago, it had a collision with the floor, and has walked with a limp ever since.

Stitch and Pitch
The annual Knitters Day at the ball park was in late May this year. The Cleveland Indians lost, but it was a beautiful warm spring night and we all had a great time. The silly guy in the photo is our mascot Slider. I guess most mascots are silly, but we love them.

Thoughts on inanimate objects

2010-05-29T07:54:00.018-04:00

Sewing machines
The human mind is an odd thing. This last week, I needed to have my sewing machine repaired. This is an industrial machine, so the head goes to the repair shop, while the table and motor stay put. I had been having trouble with skipping the last few days, and finally I gave up and called the repair shop Saturday morning. They were in and said to send it over. DH was available for transport, since I was working. Machine disassembled and trucked down to the car.

I have an extra machine in my shop, other than the one my employee uses. It hadn't been used for a couple of years since another employee left. I had to install a new light. The box had been sitting on the machine table since I stole the old light for my machine. Clean off the dust, adjust the tension, its good to go. As I kept working, I fiddled with adjustments, including table height. It's an oldie, but goody. I became comfortable with it.

Working with an industrial machine takes a little adjustment. When I first started, I was told that in time, it would become an extension of my hands and arms. This machine has the bobbin loaded from the side, rather than the front like my machine, using the left hand, rather than the right. The needle threads from the left rather than the front. Different hands here too. When I worked at the costume company, I used a machine like this, so the adjustment isn't too bad. The feel of the motor/clutch takes a little getting used to. Each machine is a little different. The more I worked on this machine, the more I got used to it.

Finally, on Thursday, I called the repair shop. By the time I connected with the owner and determined that the machine was ready, I didn't have time to pick it up. Luckily someone else was coming to the shop and could bring my baby to me. It caught up with me on Friday morning.

It took a while to put it together again. The belt guard is a pain and I always get it wrong, before I get it right.
I'm back on this machine, its working perfectly, but it feels odd! I had gotten used to the other machine and now this one took a little getting used to.

Front yard Part 3
The landscaper didn't come back and didn't come back. The flats of flowers needed to get in the ground. I found some time, so I did it. I really like playing in the dirt, but don't have much time. These are chocolate chip carpet bugle, a perennial ground cover under the bushes that edge the yard.

The center walk is edged with Impatiens this year. I would like to find some perennials, but not this year, I think.

We used to have a a thick row of day lilies on the tree lawn. We now have two small plants. The old ones were tiger lilies with tall orange flowers. The new are Stella D'Oro with yellow flowers. these will not grow very tall. Grass is under the straw. or it will be when it grows. The yard sat like this for almost another week. Rainy weather was part of the reason.

Front yard part 4
The landscaper returns! He brought creeping phlox. He brought Spirea and more yellow day lilies. He also brought some more bushes. I love the one with the colored leaves. I don't remember the name of it. The landscaper also brought topsoil for the whole area.

I was disappointed that the rubble still showed. It's good to hold the hill in place, but it's ugly. In time the plants will cover it, and we still have mulch to be applied. Part of the delay is that my neighbor wants to finish weeding before mulching.

Mothers Day
We had our usual breakfast at Bob Evans with all available family. DGS Chris was on leave from the Air Force so it was nice to see him. DD#1 used to drive in from Erie PA for the breakfast, but this year, she lives in Florida. DD#4 invited us for dinner at her house. Her son has been learning chess and playing with a friend at recess if the weather is bad. Grandpa is talking strategy with him.

Knitting
Sock knitting has happened. The brown socks for DH have one sock finished. I should weigh the remaining yarn, to see if I will get a second sock out of it, but I may live dangerously. The plan is to use up each color in order, and finish with solid brown if necessary.

The purple socks are a Cookie A pattern for SKA on Ravelry. I am finishing the toe on sock #2. I really will have to take new pictures.

I have more sewing to talk about, a little more landscaping, and a baby sweater. I also have a two day weekend, with Monday off.

What happened to our front yard?

2010-05-10T08:43:00.011-04:00

Part I
This is a really bad picture of what the landscaping looked like in 2000. The big bushes were Rhododendrons, and were not the same color. They died and needed to go. A landscaper was working next door and agreed to do the job.

Oh, by the way, I can clean out this... and this...and this... We agreed and ended up with... a naked yard!

I went shopping at the garden center and came home with a car full of plants, discovered that the bushes I bought will never grow up to be very big, but I love them. Back to the garden center for more bushes that will be bigger.

Yes, the dog on the porch is cute. She's 35# of Australian Cattle Dog. Dog walks are my daily exercise and thinking time.

Part II
The bushes were planted and 2 day lily plants on the tree lawn. We used to have loads of big orange day lilies, but it was too much really. The rest of the plants went into our garage because of frost warnings.

This plant is one of a pair. It will have yellow flowers and stay fairly small. We will move 2 clumps of the big orange type of day lily from our back yard to the front. I may get more day lilies of different colors if I can find them. This is where the yard stands at the moment. More things should be planted later today, with luck.

Guild Toy
Every spring, our knitting guild has a toy competition. The toys are then donated for distribution to children in need. This year's toy is from Fiona McTague's Knitted Toys book. The yarns used are a combination of Caron simply Soft and Lion Brand Wool Ease, all from stash.

More socks
The socks I call Secret Sparkles are finished. This was a Knitty pattern by Cookie A. called Clandestine. The yarn is Dream in Color Starry, because it has silver sparkles in it. The pattern is very dense and the chart needs to be consulted for every row. There are 3 repeats of the pattern on the leg. The foot pattern is mirrored.

One of the Ram club selections, Intersector Socks, is next up in the pipeline. The yarn is from the Unique Sheep and is 4 variations of a gradient color, getting gradually darker down the sock. There was a problem with the pattern as it switched from rib to cable pattern. I figured it out and contacted the designer. She has fixed it in the latest version of the pattern. I'm going to make another change in the pattern, because I see that there are no decreases from the heavy cables to the heel or the toe. The sock looks too big in the pattern photo. DH has big feet, but needs a foot narrower than this pattern.

Sock Knitter Anonymous has a 2 part challenge as usual. Cabled socks, see above, and a mystery sock by Cookie A, We have 2 clues now, but I've 0nly done one so far. I did it twice, but that doesn't count. The first try was too small. My yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy.

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

2010-05-02T10:03:00.009-04:00

The Mad Hatter asked this of Alice. No one has the slightest idea, but I have a sock kit for Mad Hatter Socks. The yarn is Wool Candy dyed with Johnny Depp's version of the Mad Hatter in Mind. The pattern is mine.

I received a box from Woolgirl with the Alice in Wonderland Sock club, full of lovely gifts.
In addition to the yarn and the pattern, the box contained: an orange sock knitting bag with Mad Hatter print by The Silver Pumpkin, an Alice in Wonderland coin purse designed by Julia of Simbiosis: Super Cute Handmade Stuff, a large Mad Hatter notebook with a bookmark by Roberta of Pink Cherry Mama, a teapot tape measure, a Mad Hatter pillow box with Skittles inside also designed by Pink Cherry Mama, a set of 3 yummy tea flavors form Stash Tea, a teacup sugar cookie from Beaverton Bakery in Beaverton Oregon, a lime cupcake soap and melon berry lip butter (a Don't Eat Me treat) from Erin at Naiad Soap Arts, and a Mad Hatter gift tag. Quite a haul! Also included was a nice check paying for the pattern.

Sock progress
I am working on 3 pairs of sock right now. Crazy, I know, at least for me. I'm finishing up the Sockotta socks for Plymouth Yarn. The Clandestine socks are on leg #2. I've called mine Secret Sparkles, since the yarn is Dream in Color Starry.

The latest sock is a Ram Club selection from last September, called Intersector Socks. The club has sock kits for men. The yarn is Foot Prints from the Unique Sheep, dyed in "Gradiance" colors. Four small skeins of progressively darker colors were in the kit. There was a problem with the wording in the transition from ribbing to pattern. I contacted the designer, Sarah Wilson, and she has fixed the pattern. She offered me a free pattern, but nothing on her site excited me. The most interesting one is in a book I also designed for, so i have the pattern. It was a nice gesture though.

We are talking with a landscaper for some serious clean up of our front yard. Priority one is some dead bushes that need removing, and he will do a lot of other work too. I'll have to take before pictures in the next few days.

Family breakfast
We get together with our son and family on the first Sunday of each month at a restaurant. With a large family, it gives us some together time.

Son has a broken finger, caused by a misjudgment while splitting logs. The finger did not fit between the maul and the hammer when the handles were aligned. It has cut into his bicycle racing, brought it to a temporary halt.

DIL has started school for becoming a physical therapist and is having time management problems juggling that and her graphic design job. The hours are flexible in the job, but is sleep optional?

Granddaughter A is going to prom later this month. She brought her dress to my shop yesterday for alterations. It's tough being really short! She's talking about going to Brazil after graduation. That's where she was born. She and her siblings were adopted.

Grandson V is talking about his summer job. He has one, but doesn't know yet what kind of hours he'll have. Last year he worked at a swimming pool as a substitute.

Grand daughter L is not planning on working, but has a busy summer planned, including a lot of volunteer work at the Natural History Museum.

Plans are afoot for Mother's day, including a breakfast at Bob Evans and a dinner with DD #4 and family.

Spring socks and more

2010-04-25T16:06:00.013-04:00

Green scarf
This was started in mid January. The pattern is called Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf. There are no knitting fairies to knit it when I'm not looking, so I'm still working on ball #1 of 2. The yarn is Noro Matsuri, a cotton/wool blend. The needles are glass, obtained at a TKGA convention.

Skew socks
Patons Kroy yarn works all right for these socks, but I like the striped ones I've seen better. The pattern is easy to work, but requires concentration in certain parts. It's very detailed, which is good. I heard that the socks ran a little tight, so I upped my needle size from US #1/2.25mm to 2.5mm needles. They fit nicely.

Secret Sparkles Sccks
The pattern is Cookie A's Clandestine Socks from Knitty.com. Yarn is Dream in Color Starry in Midnight Derby color. The needles are 5" square needles from Kollage. The 7" needles would have fit my hands better, but I like them. They're not slippery, but more like bamboo or Knit Picks Harmony. The pattern is fiddley, but not hard. It does require constant chart consultation. There are twisted stitches, lace, changing stitch counts, wrapped stitches, and the left sock is a mirror image of the right sock. Definitely not boring! I'm working the first heel/gusset.

The red sweater is finished and the machine knitting pattern is finished. I really need some replacement needles for my mid-gauge machine, so i can knit one for myself. I have contacted a dealer and ordered lots of needles. Now I won't mess up any more (Murphy's Law in reverse). I told her they were for insurance.

Guild Toy time
Every May our knitting guild has a toy competition, with the toys being donated. Knitters have a choice of dressing a ready made toy, or knitting a toy. I'm knitting a turtle from Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague.